LGS Secures DARPA Contracts for Satellite Communications

LGS Innovations said it has been awarded a contract with DARPA to develop a prototype pair of lightweight, low-power optical communication terminals that will allow for light-based communication between microsatellites in low-earth orbit.

Under the terms of the contract, LGS will be responsible for developing a pair of laser communication terminals to be launched on two small DARPA satellites. The terminals are to be extremely lightweight, weighing less than 2 lbs each, and will operate on less than 3 W of power.

This is the second DARPA contract announced by LGS in recent weeks and is in support of the Inter-Satellite Communication Link project, which seeks to enable direct communication within constellations of small satellites (weighing less than 100 lbs each). Once completed and deployed, the terminals will allow for jam-resistant, high-data-rate, low-latency communication within a network of hundreds of small satellites.