Mynaric’s laser communications terminals have passed the basic ground tests required for deployment on Space Agency satellites, the company announced Sept. 28. The company’s CONDOR Mk3 terminal was selected by Northrop Grumman, one of several manufacturers contracted to produce satellites for the Space Development Agency.

The US Space Force agency SDA plans to build a network of interconnected satellites. It includes a transport layer to transmit data collected by the satellite tracking layer of missile detection sensors. Each spacecraft is equipped with several laser communication terminals.

Optical terminals use lasers to link orbiting satellites so they can transmit data in space. Mynaric terminals will be integrated with Northrop Grumman’s 42 Transport Layer and 14 Tracking Layer Tranche 1 satellites, which will be manufactured over the next two years. Mynaric founder and chief technical officer Joachim Horvath said recently completed tests demonstrate technical performance and interoperability.

All optical terminals installed on SDA satellites must comply with the specifications and standards published by the agency. They also need to be compatible with terminals from other vendors. Mynaric confirmed that the CONDOR Mk3, which will be on Northrop Grumman’s Tranche 1 satellites, is interoperable with the CACI terminal on Lockheed Martin’s Tranche 1 satellites.

The first round of testing, conducted at Mynaric’s facilities in Munich, Germany, focused on flagging, collecting, tracking and transmitting data. Interoperability testing was conducted at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the agency selected by SDA to oversee optical communications testing.

“This milestone shows that Mynaric products meet SDA standards and are fully compatible with other terminals that implement the same standard,” said Mynaric CEO Mustafa Veziroğlu.

Mynaric does not have an exclusive agreement with Northrop Grumman. The CONDOR Mk3 terminal was chosen by Raytheon and other unknown SDA satellite manufacturers.

Veziroğlu said that the company has a production backlog of approximately 370 terminals within the scope of the contract. Optical heads are manufactured in Germany and electronic components are manufactured in Hawthorne, California. Louis Christen, Northrop Grumman’s director of distributed space operations, said the company supported Mynaric throughout the testing process.

“The SDA mission really requires these terminals to be seamlessly connected across the constellation and communicate seamlessly at very high speeds,” Kristen said. “So we see this as a very important development that addresses one of the biggest technical risks in the programme.”

Christen said Northrop Grumman chose Mynaric because of its manufacturing capabilities. “We work at their factories all the time and are impressed with their facilities and overall preparedness,” he said. Each Northrop Grumman transport class satellite has four optical terminals and each tracking class satellite has three optical terminals. Source