Blue Origin, CACI International (NYSE: CACI), General Atomics and Viasat (Nasdaq: VSAT) have received contracts from Space Systems Command to design and build space laser communication terminal prototypes.
The contractors will prototype size, weight, power and cost-optimized optical communications terminals designed for space under the first phase of the $100 million Enterprise Space Terminal program, SSC said Monday.
The EST initiative, led by SSC’s Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power Program Executive Office, aims to enable on-orbit crosslink compatibility among future military satellites and establish a space mesh network across different orbits, from low Earth orbit to beyond geosynchronous orbit.
“These terminals will implement a common waveform so all satellites carrying these terminals can talk to each other,” said John Kirkemo, senior materiel leader of SSC’s Advanced Communications Acquisition Delta.
“This is important as the network of satellites carrying EST compatible terminals will provide diverse communication paths for data that is critical to our national security and our way of life,” he added.
