The CesiumAstro S-Band CommPack inter-satellite link. Photo: CesiumAstro

CesiumAstro has released an S-band inter-satellite link for commercial, government, and defense applications called the CommPack, the company announced Jan. 11. 

The CommPack communications payload includes the software-defined radio (SDR-1001) and two active S-band antennas. The company is pitching its CommPack inter-satellite link as an off-the-shelf solution for implementing a mesh network with nearby satellites using time-division with carrier-sense for collision avoidance. It is designed for formation-flying satellites and supports mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) protocol.

“Multi-spacecraft missions offer many benefits over bespoke satellites of the past,” said Shey Sabripour, founder and CEO of CesiumAstro. “CommPack provides a plug-and-play solution for low-SWAP RF-based satellite-to-satellite communication and coordination.”

NASA chose the CommPack for its Starling Program, which evaluates technologies that can be used for clusters, or swarms of spacecraft. NASA plans to use the CommPack to build flight heritage for MANET protocols. Multiple flight sets were delivered to NASA in support of the program. CesiumAstro’s CommPack is currently shipping in engineering development and flight model configurations for small satellite and cube satellite platforms.