SAN FRANCISCO – Solstar Space plans to conduct the first spaceflight testing next year of its narrowband satellite data-relay transceiver.
The test is the culmination of more than 10 years of work by Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Solstar to raise the technical readiness level of the Critical Data Relay Spacecraft Operational Status unit, known as the Deke Space Communicator.
Once the Deke Space Communicator is integrated with a spacecraft’s telemetry, tracking and commanding system, satellite operators will have “a persistent two-way satellite internet link between your spacecraft and the ground,” Solstar CEO Brian Barnett told SpaceNews. “If an operator has multiple spacecraft in low-Earth orbit with the Deke Space Communicator, they could talk space-to-space as well.”
Solstar developed and built the Deke Space Communicator with private investment and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding.
In 2023, for example, AFWERX awarded SolStar a $1.25 million SBIR Phase 2 contract to continue development of the Deke Space Communicator.
Under another AFWERX SBIR announced in May, Solstar is developing radiation-hardened Wi-Fi access points and client Wi-Fi Network Cards to support rendezvous, proximity operations and docking for applications including in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing.
“Payloads, instruments and anything that’s Wi-Fi enabled onboard spacecraft can communicate through the Wi-Fi hotspot,” Barnett said.
Solstar has conducted demonstrations of its Wi-Fi-in-space technology on two Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital capsules and an Up Aerospace rocket. Communications are relayed through major satellite communications networks, Barnett said.
Broadband Service
In addition to the Deke Space Communicator, Solstar is designing the Continuous Spacecraft System Communications Wideband unit, known as the Slayton Space Communicator, under a $1.25 million AFWERX SBIR Phase 2 contract announced in April.
With the Slayton Space Communicator, Solstar intends to offer customers high-speed downlinks and uplinks.