REDONDO BEACH, Calif., June 25 (UPI) -- Achievement of a key testing milestone means laser technology will become a standard for future U.S. military satellite communications.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman announced Monday that the laser system being developed for the Transformational Satellite Communications project had reached Technology Readiness Level 6, which proves it will indeed function as designed in the hostile environment of space.
The TSAT program is a bridge between the current MILSAT satellite system used by the U.S. military and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency system that is coming down the pike. The five-satellite constellation is expected to provide secure laser communications at speeds up to 100 gigabits per second.
Laser communications are much tougher to disrupt than radio and are a proven means of sending data from one orbiting satellite to another.
The TSAT laser system was put through the paces by the Air Force at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the spring and more recently completed a series of environmental tests on individual components. The testing was carried out under the Risk Reduction and System Definition phase. The contract for the development and production phase will be awarded later this year.
"Completing this key milestone on schedule demonstrates the effectiveness of our team's processes for developing critical space technologies," Northrop Vice President Alexis Livanos said in a company statement.
