TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (ATLAS Space Operations PR) — ATLAS Space Operations, Inc., a leading innovator in communications for the space industry, today announced NASA has awarded it a contract for the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program’s Space Relay Partnership and Services Study. Prime contractor ATLAS partnered in its proposal with Laser Light Communications, Inc, a leader in advanced optical communications and data distribution via its proprietary HALO Global Network.

Both firms are founders of the Empower Space Alliance. As part of the contract, ATLAS will explore ways to help NASA enable new and greater scientific discovery, improve communication and navigation services, and reduce development and operations costs for both networks and missions.

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First space-to-ground all-optical global data distribution joint venture

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (ATLAS Space Operations PR) — Xenesis, ATLAS Space Operations, and Laser Light Communications announced they have joined forces in a Service-Level Solution – Empower Space Alliance.

Empower Space will provide a turnkey direct optical data distribution service from spacecraft to customer locations, worldwide. Empower Space intends to serve LEO, MEO, GEO, Cislunar, and Deep Space capability with standardized interoperability, robust data capacity and unprecedented access to customer locations worldwide. Space data platforms will now have a choice between relying on legacy radio frequency transmission and distribution, or high capacity & low cost all optical “direct delivery” of their data to its ultimate distribution…on a single network.

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Excerpts From
2015 Small Satellite Market Observations
Full Presentation

Developed by:
Ms. Elizabeth Buchen
Director, Engineering Economics Group
SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. (SEI)
Atlanta, GA

2014

SpaceWorks’ 2014 Projection estimated between 140 and 143 nano/microsatellites across all sectors would launch globally in 2014; 158 nano/microsatellites were actually launched. This represented an increase of nearly 72% compared to 2013.

2015+

In 2014, 107 commercial nano/microsatellites (1-50 kg) launched and thousands of commercial small satellites (101-500 kg) are planned for launch over the next fifteen years. Recent multi-million and multi-billion dollar investments in various ventures confirm the commercial sector’s continued interest in the nano/microsatellite and small satellite industries.
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BOULDER, Colo., September 10, 2014 (Ball Aerospace PR) — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been selected by Laser Light™ Communications, LLC (Laser Light™) to be its prime contractor for the first global, all-optical commercial satellite system. As customer demand for bandwidth grows, space-based laser communication provides a new way to move vast amounts of information around the globe efficiently and with greater resiliency.

The Ball Aerospace contract will include a first phase design analysis that will lead to completion of an eight-satellite constellation operating in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). The complete constellation of up to 12 satellites is expected to deliver 6 terabits of data per second with service speeds of 200 gigabits per second, bi-directionally, or nearly 100 times faster than conventional radio downlinks.

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