Jane Edwards
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded CopaSAT a potential five-year contract to provide managed satellite communications services to two of the service branch’s Antarctica-based icebreaker ships.
CopaSAT started to provide satcom services to the military branch’s Healy and Polar Star icebreakers on Oct. 1 under the contract, the company said Tuesday.
“We are excited to provide the communication connectivity to support the Healy and Polar Star in their scientific and ice breaking missions,” said Scott Bohnsack, vice president of business development at CopaSAT.
Healy has a 4,200-square-foot laboratory space, oceanographic winches and electronic sensors and is designed to break over 4 feet of ice at speeds of three knots to support research efforts.
Polar Star works to perform scientific research efforts as well as ice-breaking operations in Antarctica in support of the Coast Guard’s resupply missions to McMurdo Station in the Ross Sea.
St. Petersburg, Florida-based CopaSAT is a small business that provides satcom platforms and services to clients across government, maritime, aerospace, broadcast and infrastructure markets.
