Ball Aerospace announced plans April 11 to work with Loft Federal and Microsoft’s Azure Orbital on the Space Development Agency’s National Defense Space Architecture Experimental Testbed program, known as NExT. After announcing the $176 million contract in October to rapidly supply, operate and secure launch services for SDA’s NExT program, Ball Aerospace began identifying partners. Loft Federal will supply the Longbow satellite bus based on the design of the OneWeb satellite. Loft Federal also will provide satellite operations software, perform spacecraft integration and testing, procure commercial launch services, oversee the launch campaign and operate the satellites in orbit. “The Loft strategy and inventory allow us to meet a rapid timeline,” said John Eterno, Loft Federal general manager. Once the satellites launch, Microsoft will supply the Azure Government cloud and ground station infrastructure. “We’ll be bringing the ground station together with our government clouds to provide secure capabilities,” said Stephen Kitay, Azure Space senior director. Ball Aerospace will integrate NExT satellites with government-provided payloads in its secure facilities in Broomfield, Colorado. “We have classified facilities,” said Mike Gazarik, Ball Aerospace vice president of engineering. “We can do integration and test at our facility.” The first NExT launch is scheduled for 2024. If all goes as planned, additional launches will be completed by the middle of 2025. The overarching challenge is “getting all of these pieces merged quickly and efficiently on the schedule that SDA is pushing,” Eterno said. “Loft is bringing products that work. Microsoft has Azure Orbital. We’re combining it all together with Ball’s support.”
Loft Orbital recently ordered 15 additional satellite buses from Airbus OneWeb Satellites based on the bus developed for the OneWeb constellation. Loft calls its modified version of the satellite Longbow. Credit: Airbus
Ball Aerospace, Loft and Microsoft demonstrated their ability to work together through an edge-processing payload launched in January on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight.
The Ball payload included a prototype version of Azure Orbital Space SDK platform, an application toolkit designed to make it easy for people to create and deploy applications on-orbit. The payload was integrated onto Loft’s modular payload interface and launched aboard Loft’s YAM-5 mission. Loft operates the payload through Cockpit, the company’s satellite operations platform.
“We’ve worked with both Loft and Microsoft to demonstrate on-orbit data processing, and to rapidly infuse technology and demonstrate it on orbit,” Gazarik said. “Those are good partners for us. We continue that journey with them on SDA NExT.”
For Loft Federal, which was formed earlier this year to focus on the U.S. national security market, the SDA NExT contract is “immensely important,” Eterno said. “Our focus right now is executing on NExT, establishing ourselves in the government space and continuing to build the team out in Colorado.”
Ball Aerospace has successfully completed the first communication demonstration between Telesat's LEO Phase 1 satellite and Ball's fully electronically-steered flat panel antenna at Telesat's Allan Park ground station in Ontario, Canada. Ball and Telesat are collaborating on the development of satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals based on Ball's advanced antenna technology. As part of the demonstration, Ball's electronically-steered antenna tracked and communicated with the Telesat LEO Phase 1 satellite and captured real-time video data, which showcased the low latency characteristics of the Telesat LEO system. Electronically-steered flat panel antennas enable non-stationary satellite tracking and support quick and seamless switching between satellites, which is necessary for large LEO constellations. In addition, electronically-steered antennas have enhanced reliability due to no moving parts, are easy to install and may be manufactured in volume at low cost. "For decades, Ball Aerospace has been developing and building electronically-steered flat panel antennas for military and government customers," said Rob Freedman, vice president and general manager, Tactical Solutions, Ball Aerospace. "We're thrilled to work with Telesat to demonstrate this technology for their LEO satellite constellation and other commercial applications." Telesat's LEO Phase 1 satellite was launched in January 2018 and provides an in-orbit platform for development of Telesat's high performance global constellation of low earth orbit satellites that will offer low latency high throughput data services that are truly competitive with terrestrial networks.
End-user terminals capable of tracking LEO satellites, handing off between beams and between satellites, and operating maintenance-free in remote locations will further enhance the Telesat LEO value proposition.
"By successfully tracking our LEO Phase 1 satellite through multiple passes, Ball has demonstrated that their electronically-steered antenna technology is fully compatible with our system architecture," said Michel Forest, director of Engineering, Telesat.
"Ball is an industry leader in advanced antenna technology and has proven expertise in the development of user terminal solutions that will allow us to meet our objective of providing fiber-like broadband and world-wide connectivity."
Ball Aerospace has five decades of heritage delivering electronically-steered flat panel, or phased array, antenna solutions, with two decades of experience delivering planar phased array terminals. Ball is developing architectures that can scale to high-volume, low-cost production using standard commercial processes and an established supply chain.
Ball's mature, low-cost antenna technology will enable lower lifecycle costs for the emerging LEO SATCOM market and other commercial applications such as aircraft in-flight connectivity and 5G data services.
