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A new constellation with laser comms and compatibility with the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture is now taking shape.
By Breaking DefenseModernizing military simulation with open systems architecture
Best-of-breed common models and architecture enable virtual training and testing with the same data in a cyber-resilient posture.
Long-range, high-speed optical communications will be critical for the service’s plans for a “hybrid architecture” that would see networks of old and new military satellites, as well as commercial and allied networks, all communicating seamlessly to shift vast quantities of data around the world in near real-time.
By Theresa Hitchens
While SDA plans to use lasers to connect its hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit to each other and to the ground, that technology remains in its infancy.
By Theresa Hitchens
Tournear said today that there will be a total of 216 Transport Layer satellites orbited for what the agency calls its Tranche 2 configuration, which will begin launching in 2026.
By Theresa Hitchens
The 10 satellites, which will be lofted on a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg SFB to low Earth orbit (LEO), are the first batch of the Tranche 0 constellation, building blocks of America’s resilient space strategy.
By Theresa Hitchens “Translator” payloads are necessary because many of today’s commercial remote sensing providers do not, and will not, have the ability to equip their satellites with optical inter-satellite links (OISLs) required to link to the agency’s Transport Layer birds, said SDA Director Derek Tournear.
By Theresa Hitchens
“We may say that we don’t want to, and we stand behind not doing, kinetic debris creating testing, but that does not mean that we should not have that capability,” said Mitchell Institute Senior Fellow for Spacepower Studies Tim Ryan.
By Theresa Hitchens
B-21, hypersonics and more: How digital development is driving industry innovation
Technological advancements are key to keeping pace with customer demands and evolving threat landscapes.
Mandrake 2’s next trick, after demonstrating optical intersatellite links, will be using lasers for space-to-ground communications.
By Theresa Hitchens
SpaceLink intends to put four data relay satellites in Medium Earth Orbit, to complement and backup the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer.
By Theresa Hitchens
“I’m focusing on laser communication terminals because I think that’s the strongest candidate to build in the US,” Rob Geckle, CEO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens The defense prime also for the first time revealed that its partners in developing the secure OISL system: laser communications firm Mynaric and space avionics company Innoflight.
By Theresa Hitchens
“Undersea cable infrastructure is ripe for sabotage,” said Karen Jones, one of the authors of the study.
By Theresa HitchensFourteen vendors have been chosen to complete designs for two different pieces of an optical terminal that can connect incompatible LEO sats.
By Theresa Hitchens
Optical intersatellite links, or OISLs, use lasers to zip data between satellites on orbit — a technology that is both the central node and the biggest challenge in SDA’s effort to build a multi-layered National Defense Space Architecture.
By Theresa Hitchens
