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Mynaric receives order from Loft​ Federal​ for CONDOR Mk3 optical comms terminals to support SDA’s NExT

May 2, 2023

Mynaric (NASDAQ: MYNA) (FRA: M0YN) recently entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of CONDOR Mk3 terminals to Loft Federal, a subsidiary of Loft Orbital.

​Loft Federal was selected to produce, deploy and operate ​NExT — the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Experimental Testbed​ — and will use the terminals to support secure and reliable communications.​ Terminal deliveries​ are​ primarily scheduled for the first half of 2024​. ​The order announced today was received in late 2022 and was already accounted for in the previously disclosed optical communications terminal backlog as of December 31, 2022.​ ​

NExT – SDA’s Experimental Testbed will demonstrate warfighter utility of emerging mission partner satellite payloads prior to potential incorporation in future tranches. The program will leverage the low latency data transfer and Beyond Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) command and control (C&C) infrastructure established by the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to field and connect additional space vehicles with different mission payload configurations.

Mynaric’s CONDOR Mk3 optical communications terminal is specifically designed as a key communication and data transfer system built for mass deployment as part of government and commercial satellite constellations and offers full compatibility with the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) interoperability standard. It has previously been selected by Northrop Grumman for the SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport and Tracking Layers.

In July of last year, Northrop Grumman Corporation won a competition to build and deploy a proliferated LEO constellation of 14 satellites with infrared sensors for the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer (T1TRK). Image is courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

Additionally, Capella Space ordered the terminal for commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, by WARPSPACE for a satellite data relay network and others. It’s predecessor, the CONDOR Mk2, was recently delivered to Telesat Government Solutions as part of the DARPA Blackjack program. In addition, Mynaric was named a key development partner for Phase 1 of DARPA’s Space-BACN program extending the company’s success in the U.S. Government satellite communication market.

“We look forward to working with Loft Federal on this key U.S. Government project and demonstrating the advantages of laser communications for transmitting high volumes of critical data when and where it is needed. Laser communications technology is critical to the network infrastructure in the proliferated low earth orbit environment and beyond and we applaud the U.S. Government for leading the adoption of the technology.”
— Tina Ghataore, Chief Commercial Officer of Mynaric

“​The CONDOR Mk3 terminal enables us to provide reliable performance on Longbow, our turnkey satellite platform. By using technologies like these that are commercial and produced at scale, we can deliver fast and simple operations on orbit for SDA NExT.”
​​— John Eterno, General Manager at Loft Federal

Filed Under: Business Moves, Comms, Contracts, Loft Orbital Federal, Military, Mynaric, News, NExT Constellation, Northrop Grumman, Optical, Optical Comms Terminal, Optical Terminals, Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), SDA, SmallSat, Space Development Agency (SDA), Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL), Warfighters Tagged With: Featured

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