Intelsat has been selected by Skymark Airlines to provide multi-orbit, inflight connectivity (IFC) service on 10 Boeing 737 MAX, using Intelsat’s new electronically steered array (ESA) antenna, that delivers multi-orbit service using geostationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. This new partnership is unique because Skymark will become one of the first in the Asia-Pacific region to offer Intelsat’s new hybrid service.

The new service will be installed by Boeing in the factory on several aircraft, making Skymark one of the first airlines to take delivery of a Boeing aircraft with an ESA. The first linefit aircraft is expected to be delivered in 2026. The Intelsat ESA is less than seven centimeters tall and operates on both Intelsat’s family of GEO satellites and Eutelsat OneWeb’s constellation of LEO satellites.

Japan is a very hot IFC market, and we are proud to have been selected by Skymark to deliver a product that will keep the airline on the cutting edge. Passengers will soon benefit from multi-orbit connectivity that provides the same fast and dependable internet access they enjoy at home, thanks to Intelsat’s GEO coverage and LEO’s low latency,” said Mike DeMarco, Chief Commercial Officer at Intelsat.

We are delighted to welcome Intelsat’s latest service as one of the first airline in the Asia-Pacific region. It is with pleasure that we introduce inflight connectivity service to our passengers, and will remain committed to providing safe, reliable, and high-quality air services,” said Manabu Motohashi, President and Representative Director of Skymark Airlines.

Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Reflex Aerospace GmbH during the Space Foundation’s 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado—this agreement formally establishes the framework to form a U.S.-based Joint Venture (JV) focused on delivering flexible, cost-effective, and high-performance solutions to meet diverse customer needs while strengthening their presence in global markets.

Under the agreement, Sidus and Reflex will jointly develop and manufacture integrated satellite platforms leveraging Sidus’ mission operations, technology integration and advanced manufacturing expertise alongside Reflex’s rapid satellite development capabilities and high-performance components. The collaboration will target U.S. and European markets across defense, commercial, and government sectors, with both companies contributing to production, business development, and market distribution.

The joint venture will focus on multi-orbit missions in LEO, MEO, and small GEO; In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) and In-Orbit Validation (IOV) campaigns; and advanced space applications such as LIDAR, software-defined radio (SDR), on-orbit surveillance, and refueling missions. Additionally, the companies intend to competitively pursue major government space architecture programs by optimizing the supply chain and co-developing responsive satellite systems.

As part of the MOU, Sidus will provide integration and test (AI&T) facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and will contribute mission management, operations, and proprietary subsystems such as Orlaith AI Ecosystem featuring FeatherEdge hardware for data process and analysis, Cielo software for space-based data and insights, VPX OBC high performance on-board computer, and advanced manufacturing solutions.

This partnership strengthens our global position as a full-stack space services provider,” said Carol Craig, Founder and CEO of Sidus Space. “By combining Sidus’ heritage in mission management, in-orbit operations, and space hardware manufacturing with Reflex Aerospace’s rapid-response satellite design and subsystem technologies, we’re creating a powerful platform to deliver timely, customized solutions to meet mission-critical needs across multiple orbits.”

Partnering with Sidus accelerates Reflex’s vision to deliver scalable satellite systems and meet the rising demand for high-performance, rapidly-deployable spacecraft,” said Walter Ballheimer, CEO of Reflex Aerospace. “.”

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has signed an agreement with Telesat (Nasdaq and TSX: TSAT) to integrate Telesat Lightspeed LEO Ka-band capacity into the company’s multi-orbit network to deliver a new standard of connectivity across its mobility and defense business portfolio.

The LEO capacity from Telesat Lightspeed will be seamlessly integrated with Viasat’s ultra-high throughput satellites to offer customers fast, highly reliable, robust and cost-effective connectivity services. Those services will be backed by the industry’s most comprehensive Service Level Agreements (SLAs), promoting reliable broadband connections even in the highest demand geographic locations including hub airports, seaports, and other high traffic routes and locations.

The agreement is another step forward for Viasat’s multi-orbit network roadmap, which already serves government, maritime and energy services businesses, and is being expanded to incorporate all the company’s growth markets, including commercial aviation’s leading in-flight integrated connectivity and entertainment solutions. Telesat Lightspeed is designed to be a highly advanced, flexible and resilient LEO constellation that is expected to enhance Viasat’s ability to deliver its customers a superior, multi-orbit, differentiated broadband connectivity solution.

A very broad range of mobility customers in every vertical market, whether global or regional, are interested in multi-orbit solutions that are cost effective, offer assurances of high performance, and are resilient to intentional or unintentional service disruptions. By leveraging our own satellite fleet and its unique advantages, existing national operator partnerships, plus coverage and capacity from leading third-party satellites and constellations, our services are designed to provide customers with the essential capacity density, market access, speed, bandwidth and responsiveness they need. Importantly, we have continued to innovate advanced multi-orbit resource management techniques to reduce costs and expand geographic coverage to better serve the unique needs of each mobility and defense customer,” said Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO, Viasat. “In forming key partnerships with multiple GSO and NGSO operators, we are well-positioned to support delivery of Viasat’s next-generation services, achieve industry-leading resource utilization, and drive capital efficiency. In parallel, we are working to ensure equitable access to finite space resources and support regulatory certainty enabling multi-orbit solutions and related infrastructure to thrive in a shared and sustainable way.”

Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing [NYSE: BA] company, completed the Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (FOO Fighter) CDR in just 10 months after authorization to proceed with the project.

FOO Fighter will demonstrate advanced missile defense capability by incorporating fire control-quality sensors into a prototype constellation.

The successful completion of CDR marks the transition to the production phase of the program, which includes delivering a constellation of eight satellites with a ground system in 2026. Millennium will perform mission operations once on-orbit.

Meeting rapid timelines is essential to ensuring we deliver mission capabilities when needed,” said Doug Hulse, portfolio lead, Millennium Space Systems. “Completing the FOO Fighter critical design review in just 10 months highlights the efficiency and determination of our team. Our focus is always on providing the warfighter with the tools they need, and this achievement underscores our commitment to delivering mission requirements on time.”

We are thrilled to be working for the Space Development Agency to deliver the FOO Fighter Program and helping pave a new era in the industry, ” said Tony Gingiss, CEO, Millennium Space Systems. “This collaboration with L3 is a testament to what can be achieved when industry leaders come together to push the limits of what’s possible.” 

Firefly Aerospace has been awarded a contract to perform a responsive on-orbit mission with the company’s Elytra spacecraft in support of the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Sinequone Project.

During the DoD mission, Elytra will serve as a space maneuver vehicle to perform a series of responsive on-orbit tasks, including space domain awareness (SDA) operations in LEO—this mission is set to launch as early as 2027.

As part of the mission, Elytra will host a suite of government payloads, including optical visible and infrared cameras, a responsive navigation unit, and a universal electrical bus with a payload interface module. Firefly’s Elytra Dawn configuration will use common components from the company’s launch vehicles and lunar landers, including the avionics, composite structures, and propulsion systems, to enable on-demand mobility, plane changes, and maneuvers with high delta-V capabilities and reliability. Elytra’s main engine, called Spectre, was recently flight-proven on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander as the reaction control system thrusters that successfully performed Firefly’s final descent on the Moon on March 2.

The DoD contract supports the DIU’s Sinequone project that aims to deliver cost-effective, responsive access beyond Geosynchronous orbits, referred to as xGEO. This mission in LEO is the first step to enable future access and operations in xGEO on a responsive timeline. The award follows Firefly’s initial trade studies that were completed for the DIU in 2024.

As demand for responsive on-orbit services continues to grow, Firefly is expanding its spacecraft production capabilities and was recently awarded an $8.2 million grant from the Texas Space Commission to add additional spacecraft clean room space, test facilities, and infrastructure. This will allow Firefly to mass produce Elytra in higher quantities at a lower cost in support of long-haul communications relays, on-orbit payload hosting, maneuverability, and other responsive services across cislunar space.

Firefly has proven our ability to rapidly and reliably launch, land, and operate in space as we continue to execute bold missions from LEO to lunar orbit and beyond,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “This national security mission will further demonstrate our ability to perform responsive on-orbit tasks when and where our customers need them with our highly maneuverable Elytra orbital vehicle. To achieve this, we equipped Elytra with many of the same flight-proven systems Firefly utilized to successfully land on the Moon after traveling 2.8 million miles across cislunar space.”

About Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace is an end-to-end responsive space company with launch, lunar, and on-orbit services. Headquartered in central Texas, Firefly is a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners (“AEI”) focused on delivering rapid, reliable, and affordable space access for government and commercial customers. Firefly’s small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide the space industry with a single source for missions from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond.

Axiom Space has revealed that the company will launch the first of two Orbital Data Center (ODC) nodes to LEO, by year’s end. These nodes will lay the foundation for space-based cloud computing, addressing growing needs for users around the world.

ODCs will provide secure, scalable, and cloud-enabled data storage and processing, and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) solutions directly to satellites, constellations, and other spacecraft in Earth’s orbit, with the capability to operate independently of terrestrial infrastructure. This innovative approach reduces reliance on Earth-based systems and also enhances resiliency and security of emerging mesh networks in orbit but also enhances real-time operations of space assets by providing lower latency and higher availability cloud capabilities. Axiom Space’s ODCs will transform space operations, especially in the context of defense and security.

Use cases for ODCs include:

On-orbit and real-time processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED) of data from multiple national security and commercial satellites

Lower-latency multi-sensor fusion for terrestrial or Space threat detection and tracking

AI/ML and Large Language Models (LLM) to enable real-time and autonomous or semi-autonomous decision making for satellites and other space assets

Earth-independent endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities to enhance the cyber security of the thousands of national security, commercial, and civil space assets

ODC Nodes 1 and 2 will be part of the Kepler Communications optical relay network constellation scheduled to launch by the end of the year. Axiom Space and Kepler Communications have been collaborating since 2023 on the integration of Optical Intersatellite Links (OISLs) with Axiom Space’s ODCs to enable high-speed data connections directly between ODCs and commercial and government spacecraft and networks on-orbit.

These ODC Nodes will feature high-speed, 2.5 Gbps-capable optical links to other Kepler Communications optical relay assets in LEO or other satellites, constellations and spacecraft that are compatible with the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 optical communications standards. Data transfer will also be possible between the ground and the ODC nodes via optical or radio frequency links. SDA-compatible optical communications terminals will make these initial ODC nodes, and future nodes, interoperable with national security, other government, and commercial satellite networks.

Axiom Space will have options to purchase additional payloads on Kepler’s constellation to increase ODC capacity. The two companies will jointly collaborate on extending network and ODC services to national security, civil, commercial, and international customers.

As the rapid development of digital technology, driven by the proliferation and adoption of AI/ML, continues to transform industries, the limitations of terrestrial data centers — such as energy consumption, cooling, real estate, regulatory licensing and permitting, and exposure to human or natural disruptions — are becoming increasingly apparent, globally. Axiom Space is at the forefront of mitigating these challenges by developing a modular and scalable network of ODC nodes that will offer enhanced global digital sovereignty, security, and resilience to customer data and AI/ML needs, doing so by leveraging the abundant energy and domain of space.

Looking ahead, Axiom Space is committed to expanding its Docs network in the years to come, significantly increasing capacity and capability from kilowatts to megawatts of processing power on-orbit to provide customers with a viable alternative to resource-intensive terrestrial data centers.

We have been developing ODC capabilities since 2022with the launch of an AWS Snowcone to the International Space Station (ISS), followed by an array of demonstrations in Earth-independent cloud solutions from the station,” said Jason Aspiotis, global director of in-space data and security, Axiom Space. “In 2023, we announced our initial plans for an ODC Tranche 1 on Axiom Station, and in March, we shared news of the launch of a prototype data processing unit – AxDCU-1 – with Red Hat to the ISS this spring. ODC Nodes 1 and 2 are an acceleration of our plans to deploy a multitude of free-flyer ODC nodes in LEO to meet the rapidly emerging demand from users around the world, especially for defense applications where real-time, and cyber and quantum-secure data processing, AI/ML, and autonomous decision-making solutions are critically needed.”

Aspiotis continued, “Free-space optical communications have come a long way in the past few years, with significant investments by commercial entities, the Department of Defense, and NASA in advancing OISL capabilities. We plan to integrate emerging 10Gbps+ OISL and space-to-ground optical communications capabilities into our future ODC nodes, as they become available to facilitate connections to more satellites, more constellations, more ground sites, and ultimately Tbps-worth of data flow in the foreseeable future.”

Kam Ghaffarian, CEO, Executive Chairman, and Co-founder of Axiom Space, said, “Our ODC nodes will soon be open for business. We have agreements in place with users around the world to deploy initial, space-based cloud services, not just demonstrations of capabilities. We are also closely monitoring national security needs, especially the U.S. Golden Dome initiative, and how our evolving ODC infrastructure can support U.S. and allied capabilities in space-based data storage, processing, cybersecurity, and AI/ML. ODCs are integral to Axiom Space’s vision of era-defining space infrastructure, unlocking transformational capabilities and economic growth.”

About Axiom Space
Axiom Space is building the world’s first commercial space station – Axiom Station. Serving as a cornerstone for sustained human presence in space, this next-generation orbital platform fosters groundbreaking innovation and research in microgravity, and cultivates the vibrant, global space economy of tomorrow. Today, driven by the vision of leading humanity’s journey off planet, Axiom Space is the principal provider of commercial human spaceflight services to the International Space Station and developer of advanced spacesuits for the Moon and low-Earth orbit. Axiom Space is building era-defining space infrastructure that will empower our civilization to transcend Earth for the benefit of every human, everywhere.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has expanded the company’s suite of space-grade radio frequency (RF) communications systems, the Frontier radios—they are flight-proven, software-defined and designed for reliable telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C).

Adapted from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Frontier Lite radio, Rocket Lab’s high-performance Frontier radios have over 13 years of flight heritage and are now available in L-, S-, C-, X-, and Ka-band models. The radio is designed from the ground up for reliable and secure communications to support any orbit or space environment and have advanced capabilities like ranging waveforms for radiometric navigation. Frontier radios are compact and lightweight for easy integration onto any satellite.

As part of Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated subsystems and components, Frontier radios are compatible with the Deep Space Network and other global ground stations, including the Near Earth Network, Air Force Satellite Control Network, KSAT, SSC, Viasat, and other commercial networks.

This RF product suite is a further expansion of Rocket Lab’s component products, joining a portfolio that includes reaction wheels, star trackers, solar power systems, flight software, ground software, separation systems, and more.

Frontier radios are flight-proven across a range of missions including Rocket Lab’s Photon Pathstone, three Rocket Lab Pioneer spacecraft for Varda Space Industries, NASA’s CAPSTONE, NASA’s Europa Clipper, NASA’s Solar Probe Plus, Emirates Mars, and Van Allen Probes. Upcoming, Rocket Lab’s Frontier L-band radio will be used for Viasat to support their hybrid space communications network demonstrations for NASA’s Communications Services Project.

The Frontier Radio was also selected as a 2024 R&D 100 Award for innovations pushing the boundaries of research and development.

We are excited to add this suite of software-defined radios to our expanding portfolio of products,” said Brad Clevenger, Vice President of Rocket Lab Space Systems.  “We continue to demonstrate our ability to deliver high reliability, high performance products at constellation scale.  While much of the industry struggles with supply chain challenges, Rocket Lab continues to demonstrate that it is the right partner for merchant component supply to the most demanding missions.”