Jane Edwards
The Space Development Agency has issued a request for information on potential vendors that could design and build optical communications terminals for the first tranche of the National Defense Space Architecture’s transport layer.
Industry stakeholders should state in their responses whether their terminal currently implements a time transfer or ranging method and the type of open standard time transfer method being supported by the terminal, according to the RFI posted Friday on the beta SAM website.
The latest RFI came a week after SDA sought industry feedback on the design and development of space vehicles for NDSA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer, which will deliver initial warfighting capability to service personnel via persistent regional access to low-latency data transport services. The T1TL program will include about 150 space vehicles that could be launched in late fiscal year 2024.
SDA also wants vendors to identify any perceived gaps in Tranche 1 requirements for OCTs, assess the feasibility of producing 150 to 450 terminals that meet the objectives within the Tranche 1 timeline, describe previous experience in manufacturing optical space payloads and provide information on the technology and manufacturing readiness levels of candidate OCTs and Polarization-maintaining Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers.
Responses to the RFI are due April 28. Respondents that will submit classified data should notify the agency no later than April 30.
