Just as your cell phone stays connected by roaming across networks, NASA's multilingual experimental terminal or PECTThe technology demonstration proves that space missions can do the same, seamlessly switching between government and commercial communications networks.
NASA missions rely on critical data to navigate, monitor spacecraft health, and transmit scientific information back to Earth, and this revolutionary technology could bring many benefits to government and commercial missions by providing more reliable communications with fewer data outages.
“This mission has transformed the capabilities of NASA and the U.S. satellite communications industry,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for the agency. SCAN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “PExT has demonstrated that interoperability between government and commercial networks is possible near Earth, and we are not stopping there. The success of our commercial space partnership is clear, and we will continue to build on this momentum by expanding these capabilities to the Moon and Mars.”
Kevin Coggins
Deputy Deputy Administrator SCAN
Broadband technology provides data exchange across a wide range of frequencies, helping to connect government and commercial networks as NASA advances the commercialization of space communications. By enabling interoperability between government and commercial assets, this technology unlocks new benefits not currently available to agency missions.
As commercial providers continue to improve their technology and add new capabilities to their networks, missions equipped with broadband terminals can integrate these enhancements even after launch and during active operations. The technology also maintains NASA's network integrity, allowing missions to seamlessly switch between service providers if one network experiences critical failures that would otherwise prevent timely communications.
“We take seamless mobile phone roaming for granted today, but in the early days of mobile phones, our devices only operated on one network,” said Greg Heckler, SCaN Capability Development Manager at NASA Headquarters. “Our space missions have faced similar limitations—until now. These groundbreaking tests prove that broadband terminals can connect spacecraft to multiple networks, a huge benefit for early missions transitioning to commercial services in the 2030s.”
On July 23, the communications system demonstration was launched into low Earth orbit aboard York Space Systems' BARD mission. The compact broadband terminal, developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, communicates over a wide range of Ka-band frequencies, which are commonly used by NASA missions and commercial providers. After completion series of tests which proved that the BARD spacecraft and demonstration payload were functioning properly, testing began with TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) and commercial satellite networks operated by SES Space & Defense and Viasat.
During each demonstration, the terminal performed critical space communications and navigation operations, ranging from real-time spacecraft tracking and mission commands to high-speed data delivery. By demonstrating end-to-end services between the BARD spacecraft, multiple commercial satellites, and mission control on Earth, the broadband terminal demonstrated that future NASA missions could become interoperable with government and commercial infrastructure.
Because of the flexibility of broadband technology and the innovative nature of this mission, NASA recently extended its Multilingual Experimental Terminal demonstration for an additional 12 months of testing. Expanded mission operations will include new direct-to-Earth tests with the Swedish Space Corporation, scheduled to begin in early 2026.
This technology demonstration will continue testing spaceflight communications capabilities through April 2027. By 2031, NASA plans to purchase satellite relay services for scientific missions in low Earth orbit from one or more US companies.
To learn more about this broadband technology demonstration, visit:
The Multilingual Experimental Terminal technology demonstration is funded and managed by NASA's SCaN program within the Office of Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. York Space Systems provided the base spacecraft. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a demonstration payload. Commercial satellite relay demonstrations were conducted in partnership with SES Space & Defense and Viasat.
