Comsat Laboratories to Design Inter-planetary Network for NASA

NASA has awarded a contract to Comsat Laboratories to design and deliver a Space Communications Testbed (SCT) that emulates the nodes and links comprising an end-to-end inter-planetary communication network. NASA expects to use the SCT to test, validate, and optimize communication links, protocol stacks, operational parameters, and mission applications using time varying emulated channel characteristics and mission traffic profiles. Later phases of the SCT program are planned to provide additional benefits by also serving as a vehicle for testing new and emerging communication technologies and as a platform for testing various mission operation scenarios.


The first phase of the project provides $2.3 million to Comsat and $1.4 million to be divided among NASA Glenn Research Center, Jet Propulsion Lab/California Institute of Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Langley Research Center.


Comsat Laboratories is a division of ViaSat.
http://www.viasat.com