NASA has selected Viasat, SES and Astranis to develop commercial Ka-band relay services for spacecraft that now rely on its aging Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet. The contracts are worth up to a combined $1.07 billion.
The Nov. 4 awards is from the agency’s Network Extension for User Continuity and Sustainability (NEXUS) effort and are firm-fixed-price contracts through the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-3 (NextSTEP-3) Broad Agency Announcement.
According to NASA’s press release, Viasat’s contract is worth up to $460.9 million, Global Enterprise Solutions Inc. (SES Space & Defense) up to $340.4 million and Astranis Space Technologies Corp. up to $264.3 million. The first phase ends May 3, 2027. Priced options could extend the work through 2029, including an in-orbit flight demonstration.
The awards are part of NASA’s plan to gradually retire TDRS and buy communications services from industry. This Ka-band effort is aimed at missions already in orbit that can’t modify their flight hardware or move to incompatible commercial services, so the new relays have to work with those spacecraft as they are.
For Phase 1, Viasat said its Space and Mission Systems team will mature a design built on small relay satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), backed by a ground segment, launch and operations. “NASA’s vision for NEXUS reflects a significant evolution toward commercially provided space communications services,” said John Reeves, vice president of Space and Mission Systems at Viasat Government. Viasat and SES both received contracts in 2022, when NASA started the Communications Services Project.
