Rocket Lab joins NASA’s $278.5 million project
to accelerate development of near-Earth communications through
partnerships with commercial satellite communications providers
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today
announced it has been selected by Inmarsat Government as partner to
develop and manufacture an L-band radio in support of NASA’s
Communications Services Project (CSP). CSP seeks to accelerate the
development of commercial near-Earth communications services by
partnering with satellite communications (SATCOM) providers. Rocket
Lab will help enable Inmarsat’s InCommand, a real-time, near-Earth
telemetry, command, and control (TT&C) service for satellites
in low Earth orbit (LEO) for the CSP with the Company’s new
Frontier-L radio connecting to Inmarsat’s ELERA global L-band
network in geosynchronous orbit (GEO).
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Inmarsat spacecraft depicted in Earth
orbit. Credit: Inmarsat
As NASA prepares to decommission the agency’s owned and operated
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) system, which has
provided communication for the Hubble Space Telescope, the
International Space Station, and numerous NASA’s Earth-observation
satellites, the CSP aims to tap into commercial satellite
communications services to ensure future NASA missions have similar
reliable, secure, and high-performance space relay
capabilities.
Rocket Lab’s Frontier-L radio is a transmitter that will support
Inmarsat Government’s demonstrations of a variety of TT&C
applications, enabled by Inmarsat’s ELERA worldwide L-band network,
including Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP), ubiquitous
command and control, real-time tasking, and contingency operations
for satellites in LEO orbits.
“Rocket Lab and Inmarsat Government both share a culture of
innovation, pioneering technology and delivering reliable mission
success, so we’re honored to be working together to support NASA in
this vital project to enable major missions of the future,” said
Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. “We look forward to
building on the strong heritage of our Frontier radios by
supporting Inmarsat’s world-renowned satellite network and leading
capabilities providing satcom as a service.”
Frontier-L join’s Rocket Lab’s existing line of radios including
the software-defined telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C)
S-band Frontier-S and X-band Frontier-X radios which can support
near Earth and deep space missions. Based on the Johns Hopkins
University (JHU) Applied Physics Lab (APL) Frontier Radio,
Frontier-L packs Deep Space Network (DSN) and other typical
waveforms (SN, KSAT, SSC) into a compact package with up-screened
commercial components for high reliability applications. The family
of Frontier by Rocket Lab radios includes extended functionality
not typically available in a low-cost radio including a coherent
transponder to enable radiometric navigation methods, precision
timekeeping functions, forward error correction (FEC) encoding and
decoding, and a hardware based critical command decoder (CCD).
Steve Gizinski, President, Inmarsat Government, said, “Inmarsat
Government has joined with major space-based industry suppliers to
demonstrate the capabilities of Inmarsat’s ELERA global, reliable
satellite network, including for NASA’s Communications Services
Project and Rocket Lab is a key partner for us. Rocket Lab’s
Frontier-L radio will leverage InCommand on the ELERA network as an
important new capability for ubiquitous command and control to
enhance the operation of low Earth orbit spacecraft. This will
enable new communications services for industry and government
alike.”
+ ABOUT Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with
an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable
launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and
on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more
affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach,
California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small
orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and the
Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for
constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January
2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second
most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 151
satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations,
enabling operations in national security, scientific research,
space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and
communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been
selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as
the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three
launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a
private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second
launch site in Virginia, USA which is expected to become
operational in 2022. To learn more, visit www.rocketlabusa.com.
ABOUT INMARSAT GOVERNMENT
The U.S. government has relied on and trusted Inmarsat satellite
services since 1979. Inmarsat Government continues to deliver the
world’s most advanced global, mobile satellite communication
services to U.S. defense, intelligence, homeland security, public
safety and civilian agencies, with highly reliable, secure and
affordable connectivity. Implementing solutions with government
users in mind, Inmarsat Government provides resilient, flexible
capabilities to complement government satellite resources, anytime,
anywhere. Leveraging an industry-leading scalable multiband network
infrastructure, Inmarsat Government offers a suite of managed
network services and end-to-end communication solutions to support
users on land, at sea and in the air, even in the world's most
remote regions. Headquartered in Reston, VA, Inmarsat Government is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat Group Holdings Limited.
ABOUT INMARSAT
Inmarsat delivers world leading, innovative, advanced and
exceptionally reliable global, mobile communications across the
world – in the air, at sea and on land - that are enabling a new
generation of commercial, government and mission-critical services.
Inmarsat is powering the digitalisation of the maritime industry,
making operations more efficient and safer than ever before. It is
driving a new era of inflight passenger services for aviation,
while ensuring that aircraft can fly with maximum efficiency and
safety. Furthermore, Inmarsat is enabling the rapid expansion of
the Internet of Things (IoT) and enabling the next wave of
world-changing technologies that will underpin the connected
society and help build a sustainable future. And now Inmarsat is
developing the first-of-its-kind, multi-dimensional communications
network of the future, ORCHESTRA.
In November 2021, Inmarsat and Viasat announced the planned
combination of the two companies, to create a new leader in global
communications.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221103005639/en/
+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Morgan Bailey media@rocketlabusa.com
Inmarsat Government Media Contact: Alena Koci Inmarsat
Government Communications alena.koci@inmarsatgov.com
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