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Clarksburg MD (SPX) Jul 07, 2005 Comsat Laboratories, a division of ViaSat, has won a contract from NASA to design and deliver a Space Communications Testbed (SCT) that emulates the nodes and links comprising an end-to-end inter-planetary communication network. Comsat Labs' bid was selected from a large number of proposals, as part of the Technology Maturation Program under Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESR&T), a Division of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate that is developing systems for space exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The contract award for a 12-month Phase 1 development is $3.7 million of which Comsat Laboratories as prime receives $2.3 million and the remaining $1.4 million is divided among NASA Glenn Research Center, Jet Propulsion Lab/California Institute of Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Langley Research Center. The SCT is a combination of software and hardware modules that emulate communication elements in remote surface platforms, planetary orbiters, relay satellites, earth orbit satellites, earth stations, and user clients. NASA expects to use the SCT to test, validate, and optimize communication links, protocol stacks, operational parameters, and mission applications using time varying emulated channel characteristics and mission traffic profiles. Later phases of the SCT program are planned to provide additional benefits by also serving as a vehicle for testing new and emerging communication technologies and as a platform for testing various mission operation scenarios. "This program supports President Bush's vision for future space exploration. We are obviously very excited to be part of the technology development team to help NASA realize this vision," said Dr. Prakash Chitre, vice president and general manager of Comsat Laboratories. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Comsat Laboratories ViaSat SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Space Technology News - Applications and Research
Industry Team Achieve New Communications Technology With AESA Radars
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 12, 2006A team comprised of three leading US aerospace and defense contractors has demonstrated an innovative technological use of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for high-bandwidth communications. |
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