COLORADO SPRINGS — U.S. protection contractor SAIC has landed its first contract with the Pentagon to combine a small satellite tv for pc, leveraging a partnership with spacecraft producer GomSpace.
The contract of undisclosed worth — awarded by the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection’s Manufacturing Science and Know-how Program — duties SAIC with growing and deploying a satellite tv for pc to reveal cutting-edge applied sciences in area, together with synthetic intelligence and machine studying, edge computing and software-defined radio communications with a “zero-trust” cybersecurity structure.
The settlement marks a key win for SAIC’s area portfolio and its partnership with GomSpace North America solid simply over a 12 months in the past to collaborate on small satellite tv for pc design, manufacturing, deployment and operations.
David Ray, govt vice chairman of SAIC’s House and Intelligence Enterprise Group, instructed SpaceNews the satellite tv for pc will likely be built-in on the firm’s facility in Charleston, South Carolina. He stated the undertaking highlights the rising significance of small satellites in protection functions.
The Charleston facility “is what we name our sandbox that’s going to permit us to work with smallsat bus suppliers and a few attention-grabbing payload suppliers which might be doing new issues in area,” Ray stated.
Companions embrace GomSpace, ThermAvant
GomSpace North America, the U.S. subsidiary of Denmark-based GomSpace Group, will present the cubesat platform for the undertaking. SAIC can even collaborate with ThermAvant Applied sciences, a provider of oscillating warmth pipes, a thermal administration resolution for area techniques.
“We’re very excited to be concerned with our companions at SAIC on this vital mission for the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection,” stated Frank Tobin, president and CEO of GomSpace North America.
Joe Boswell, co-founder and CEO of ThermAvant Applied sciences, stated the objective is to construct a power-dense cubesat that maximizes energy output relative to its dimension and weight. “We developed drop-in alternative mechanical buildings embedded with oscillating warmth pipes on the payload and automobile ranges to enhance thermal efficiency and reduce dimension and weight,” he stated.
With a focused launch date in 2025, the cubesat goals to set a brand new commonplace for computing energy on a small platform, stated SAIC. By enabling AI and machine studying “on the edge” in area, the satellite tv for pc can course of knowledge with minimal delay.
With extra compute energy in orbit, there may be much less want for transporting knowledge again to the bottom for processing and relay to customers,” stated a SAIC spokesman. “The latency of determination making is vastly lowered.”
The Pentagon’s Protection Manufacturing Science and Know-how Program oversees R&D investments in vital, and generally high-risk, manufacturing applied sciences important to U.S. protection. The satellite tv for pc initiative aligns with the Pentagon’s broader push to speed up adoption of AI and next-generation computing capabilities for nationwide safety.
