AMERGINT Technologies Holdings has acquired Bothell, Wash.-based space technology company Tethers Unlimited Inc. for an undisclosed sum as part of efforts to deliver integrated end-to-end satellite communications and in-space services to government and commercial clients.
Rob Andzik, president of AMERGINT, said in a statement published Wednesday the acquisition will allow the company to provide the defense and space sectors with next-generation platforms designed to handle the capture, transport and processing of mission data for communication and data links.
TUI was founded by CEO Rob Hoyt and science fiction author Robert Forward in 1994 and provides software-defined radios for satcom and mesh networks, propulsion systems for orbital debris mitigation and maneuvering operations and robotic platforms for in-space manufacturing, assembly and servicing. Its satellite components include the Hydros water-electrolysis thruster, Terminator Tape Deorbit Module, Cobra gimbal and Swift software-defined radio.
Hoyt said the deal will facilitate the combination TUI’s software-defined satellite radios and mesh network platform with AMERGINT’s ground-based processors and modems to offer end-to-end communications services to meet the requirements of hybrid space architectures that are being developed by the U.S. Air Force, Space Force, Space Development Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the intelligence community.
The transaction came weeks after AMERGINT announced that it agreed to acquire the space-based precision optics business of Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX).
