Jerry Petersen
Viasat has secured a spot on NASA’s Near Space Network Services contract, which seeks to provide commercial ground and space relay support for the agency’s upcoming missions in low Earth orbit and up to 2 million kilometers from Earth. The multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract comes with a period of performance of five years and an option extension period of another five years, and a total cumulative value of $4.82 billion, Viasat said Tuesday.
Direct-to-Earth Connectivity
Under the contract, Viasat’s Defense and Advanced Technologies business will supply NASA missions with direct-to-Earth connectivity with the help of its Real-Time Earth Ground-Segment-as-a-Service network, which works to deliver multi-gigabit per second downlinks over a hybrid network-of-networks. Viasat is providing the capability in collaboration with the Alaska Satellite Facility and ATLAS Space Operations, which offers the Freedom Ground Software as a Service and the Global Federated Network.
Advanced Ground Services
Commenting on the award, Kent Leka, vice president and general manager of antenna systems at Viasat, said his company is thrilled to support NASA, adding, “Through our work with ATLAS Space Operations and the Alaska Satellite Facility, NASA will gain access to a cutting-edge communications solution that improves performance, significantly increases efficiencies over legacy systems, and provides a more cost-effective service for delivering mission data. We are excited to bring these advanced ground services forward to support NASA’s evolving NSN Services requirements.”
