NASA Awards Ka-Band Satellite Relay Contracts to Three Companies

NASA Selects Three Companies for Ka-Band Relay Work

NASA announced on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, that it selected three companies to perform work to develop Ka-band space relay capability concepts. The contracts are compatible with current missions in space, ensuring service continuity for existing spacecraft without requiring modifications to their onboard systems.

The awards are made under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-3 Broad Agency Announcement Appendix E. They are firm-fixed-price contracts that give NASA the option to provide additional funding up to the award limit to advance from initial concept development and risk reduction to an in-orbit flight demonstration.

The contract awardees with maximum potential value inclusive of all future options are:

• Astranis Space Technologies Corp. for $264.3 million.
• Global Enterprise Solutions Inc. for $340.4 million.
• Viasat Inc. for $460.9 million.

The initial period of performance runs from November 4 through May 3, 2027, with additional priced options to continue work through 2029.

Purpose and Program Context

Through this work, NASA will aim to acquire end-to-end solutions that include space, ground, launch, operations, and integration elements, as one of many customers in the commercial marketplace.

Facilitated through the agency’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program’s Communications Services Project, this work supports NASA’s decision to gradually retire the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite fleet and adopt commercial services for future missions. In addition to the commercial capabilities currently under development by the program’s industry partners, Ka-band services are needed to support select in-orbit missions that cannot feasibly modify flight hardware or transition to non-compatible commercial services.

Contract Details

The announcement was issued as contract release C26-016 from NASA Headquarters. The release was written by Jessica Taveau, with contact information provided for Jennifer Dooren and Jessica Taveau at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

To learn more about NASA’s Network Extension for User Continuity and Sustainability Ka-band service acquisition, NASA directed readers to

Why it matters

• The awards support NASA’s plan to gradually retire the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite fleet and move toward commercial services for future missions.
• Ka-band services are needed for select in-orbit missions that cannot feasibly modify flight hardware or transition to non-compatible commercial services.
• The contracts give NASA options to advance from concept development and risk reduction to an in-orbit flight demonstration.

Sources

• nasa.gov: NASA Announces Ka-Band Satellite Relay Awards for Space Communications - NASA

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.