Nasa turns to KSAT, SpaceLink for commercialising Near Space comms

Author: EIS Release Date: Oct 25, 2022

Nasa has commissioned two companies to “explore and demonstrate communications and navigation services” in Near Space, to help Artemis missions to the Moon: Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) USA and SpaceLink Corporation.

 

Nasa turns to KSAT, SpaceLink for commercialising Near Space commsKSAT, the Norwegian ground segment specialist with offices in Denver, has been awarded a fixed-price milestone-based contract worth $161,638. And SpaceLink, the inter-satellite data specialist based in McLean, Virginia, has won a $189,881 contract.

 

Relay comms

The companies will be studying direct-to-Earth and lunar space relay communications and navigation services. These could help improve telemetry, tracking, and commanding services for orbital and sub-orbital missions at the Moon, relaying critical data between spacecraft and ground stations.

 

Nasa writes about Near Space Networks (NSN):

 

“The companies will help NASA and its stakeholders understand advancements in radio frequency compatibility testing that will lead to [NSN] efficiencies, address industry best practices, tools, and capabilities related to mission planning and scheduling, understand the barriers, challenges, and solutions associated with integrating optical communications ground terminals into the [NSN, and understand the advancements of software-defined radios and cloud computing assets and their integration into the [NSN] architecture.”

 

The awards were made under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) programme. You can read more about this public-private partnership model on the NASA website.

 

“All missions need communications and navigation services to send data back to Earth. These capability studies and demonstrations will highlight networking efficiencies and inform future planning for NASA missions,” said Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.

 

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) programme oversees a Deep Space Network and a Near Space Network, which provides services to missions within 2 million kilometers of Earth.

 

It does this through a mix of government and commercial providers, and is is managed out of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

 

These newly commissioned studies are intended to help NASA study what could create “a commercial space communications and navigation marketplace” where NASA is one of many customers.

 

Pictured above is a map of Nasa’s current Near Space Network direct-to-Earth and space relay communications infrastructure.