WASHINGTON — SpaceX, Kuiper Government Solutions and Aalyria Technologies were chosen for market-research studies on how industrial systems could add capability to the military’s future low Earth orbit constellation.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency announced Aug. 17 that the businesses will conduct three-month studies. The agency said it wants to raised understand the industry’s capabilities to supply “LEO backhaul” services.
The agency is paying a complete of $1.6 million to the three firms to conduct the studies. SpaceX operates the Starlink giant broadband constellation. Kuiper plans to begin deploying Amazon’s broadband constellation over the subsequent few years. Aalyria is a Google spinoff focused on network orchestration technologies for mesh communications networks.
Industrial options to ‘add resilience’
SDA is constructing a layered network of satellites referred to as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. It features a Transport Layer of interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer of missile-detection and early-warning sensor satellites.
“The studies will examine connecting industrial or other existing LEO systems to the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to supply further resiliency by quickly moving broadband data between edge and most important networks worldwide,” SDA said.
These studies on LEO backhaul capability will inform potential acquisitions of those services, said the agency. “SDA is focused on options that leverage, to the utmost extent possible, existing or planned industrial, optically-interconnected orbital mesh network and ground infrastructure.”
The contracts were awarded under the Space Development Agency’s System, Technologies, and Emerging Capabilities (STEC) Broad Agency Announcement.