Space is a Network.
Constellations is Your Connection.

STARCOM recently marked its one-year anniversary on being stood up as the latest field command for the U.S. Space Force. While it is pioneering a new domain, Maj Gen. Bratton, a teacher by training, said STARCOM is learning and benefitting from what the Department of Defense, NASA and commercial companies are doing and bringing those best practices into the Space Force as it grows as part of the broader space industry.

Constellations spoke with Webex’s Jono Luk about deep space video collaboration and the upcoming Artemis I mission. In this article, Mr. Luk, takes a deeper look at how it works and shares the importance of communicating in real-time from 240,000 miles away.

Planet Labs will be outfitting one or more of its new-generation Pelican high-resolution satellites with radio-frequency inter-satellite-link terminals to communicate with geostationary- and non-geostationary-orbit satellites owned by SES and Telesat under contracts with NASA.

The Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium recently published updated specifications for interoperable digital IF/RF marking a significant milestone in the digital transformation of the satellite and space industries. The new standard was peer reviewed by DIFI members and passed with unanimous approval from the board of directors and voting members.

Sweden-based Ovzon expects Ovzon 3 to finish testing at prime contractor Maxar Technologies in time for shipment to Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport. Ovzon 3 is likely to be paired for the launch with Germany’s Heinrich Hertz civil/military telecommunications technology demonstration satellite for a launch to geostationary-transfer orbit.

In an exclusive interview, Constellations spoke with Dr. Frank Turner, Technical Director of the Space Development Agency at the Smallsat Conference on how SDA is turning acquisition on its head to deliver new space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter on aggressive new cycles. Labeled by the Department of Defense as the ‘constructive disruptor in acquisition,’ Turner related how SDA has “a completely different model. We're doing things differently on different timelines, at different speeds.”

Demand for spectrum has continued to grow at a rapid pace with satellite and other allocated services vying for valuable bandwidth. Terrestrial service providers are scrambling to buy up lower bandwidths to feed an increasingly spectrum-hungry customer base. This has left Satcom providers seeking higher ground and moving to develop commercial operational capabilities in the Q band (33-50 GHz) and V band (40-75 GHz).

After years in development, the U.S. Space Force has launched the Infrastructure Asset Pre-Approval Program (IA-Pre), establishing new cybersecurity requirements for commercial satellite communications providers working with the U.S. military. In the near term, only a few dozen commercial satcom providers will be affected by IA-Pre. Those with existing DoD contracts will have a little over three years to achieve full compliance.

The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), both pushing for a multibillion-euro European Union constellation of broadband satellites, continue to treat today’s geostationary-orbit satellite broadband offers as if they did not exist. They have also seen fit to look past the difficult business case that any global low-orbit broadband constellation must confront.