Terran Orbital’s PTD-3 satellite-enabled 200 gigabits/sec space-to-ground optical link.
The NASA Satellite is Revolutionizing Space-to-Ground Communications
BOCA RATON, Fla. May 12, 2023 – Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, today announced the Terran Orbital-developed Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite-enabled a successful 200 gigabits per second space-to-ground optical link. The NASA satellite hosts the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload funded by NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) and developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
With a transmission rate of multiple orders of magnitude faster than current state-of-the-art satellite communications, this technology enables spacecraft to downlink several terabytes of data to the ground in a single ground station pass. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the space-based earth observation and synthetic aperture radar industries, among others, by offering a space-demonstrated solution to the data throughput bottlenecks that have historically limited their capabilities.
Previously, Terran Orbital aided TBIRD’s data transmission of 1.4 terabytes of test data to a single ground station in a pass that lasted less than five minutes – a record breaker at the time in terms of both speed and data transmission quantity. The 200 gigabits per second space-to-ground optical link broke this record.
“The completion of the 200 gigabits per second link is both monumental and record-breaking,” said Terran Orbital Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell. “Terran Orbital is honored to have worked alongside NASA on this groundbreaking mission and is grateful to MIT Lincoln Laboratory for creating the payload. We look forward to working with NASA and MIT Lincoln Laboratory on future satellites as we continue to make record-breaking in space commonplace.”
Terran Orbital is a leading manufacturer of satellite products primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries. Terran Orbital provides end-to-end satellite solutions by combining satellite design, production, launch planning, mission operations, and on-orbit support to meet the needs of the most demanding military, civil, and commercial customers.