Mynaric to Work on SDA Optical Ground Station Demonstration
The Space Development Agency (SDA) selected Mynaric for an optical ground terminal demonstration set for 2025. The demonstration announced Tuesday, will focus on connecting various space-based optical communications terminals and an optical ground station designed by Mynaric.
The program will serve as risk reduction for follow-on demonstrations between the optical ground station and satellites in the Tranche 0 Transport Layer.
Mynaric’s laser terminals have been selected by manufacturers working on a number of SDA contracts — Northrop Grumman for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer and Tracking Layer; Loft Federal for the SDA’s Experimental Testbed (NExT); and Raytheon for the SDA’s Tranche 1 Tracking Layer program.
“The collaboration with the SDA marks a significant milestone in advancing laser communications technology and paves the way for enhanced connectivity in the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” said Joachim Horwath, MynaricCTO . “The ground station will play an important role in delivering high throughput and communication resiliency to the SDA network.”