WASHINGTON — U.S. military satellites manufactured by York Space Systems and SpaceX successfully demonstrated cross-vendor laser communications link in low Earth orbit, marking a milestone for the Pentagon’s next-generation satellite network.
The satellites are part of the U.S. Space Force’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a network designed to enhance military communications and missile tracking capabilities.
The demonstration involved satellites from PWSA’s Tranche 0, an initial phase comprising 27 satellites operating at approximately 1,000 km altitude. The program represents a shift from the military’s traditional reliance on fewer, larger satellites to a more distributed network of smaller spacecraft.
Denver-based York Space Systems announced Jan. 9 that one of its Tranche 0 Transport satellites transmitted data to a Tranche 0 Tracking satellite developed by SpaceX using laser communications terminals. The satellites utilized terminals supplied by Tesat-Spacecom. SpaceX uses internally developed terminals for its commercial satellites.
“This demonstration realizes another important step in the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) achieving its vision of an extensible and proliferated constellation built by multiple vendors to a common interface standard,” York CEO Dirk Wallinger said in a statement. Neither the company nor SDA released any technical details of the demonstration.
SDA, which oversees the program, mandated a standardized Optical Communication Terminal protocol to ensure seamless data exchange between satellites from different manufacturers. Laser communications offer faster and more secure data transmission compared to traditional radio frequency methods.
Bigger constellation coming
The successful test comes as the Pentagon prepares to expand the network significantly. Tranche 1, scheduled to begin launching this year, will add approximately 150 satellites to the constellation.
SDA says a proliferated constellation makes military space assets more resilient to potential threats by distributing capabilities across a large network. The Tranche 0 program awarded contracts to multiple vendors including York Space Systems, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris Technologies, to maintain competitive diversity in the industrial base.
