Company Signs Exclusive License Agreement to Manufacture Space Radio Technology

The growing list of available off the shelf spacecraft parts just added high-quality, low-cost radio options. Rocket Lab made an exciting announcement for space hobbyists. Thanks to an exclusive licensing agreement with the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, the company can manufacture deep space radios for commercial use.

A radio for your cubesat

Sort of a Raspberry Pi for satellite and space probe engineers, the 6U cubesat is a highly configurable base unit which is gaining in popularity because it’s “form factor provides extra payload space complemented by state-of-the-art communications and attitude control systems.”

Before now, there were off the shelf reaction wheels and star trackers. Now you can add deep space or LEO compatible radio gear.

On Thursday, November 18, Rocket Lab announced “it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to commercialize near and deep space capable small spacecraft telemetry and control radio technology.”

The self-proclaimed “global leader in launch services and space systems” is proud to add the Frontier-S to their catalog.

Described as a software defined radio which “enables affordable communications,” the unit also provides “navigation for planetary and other missions beyond low Earth orbit.” It isn’t easy to navigate where there isn’t any GPS.

“Frontier-S radios are another strategic addition to Rocket Lab’s growing space systems portfolio of in-house built products and capabilities, further strengthening our position as an end-to-end space company,” founder and CEO Peter Beck explains.

difficult for any mission

Beck goes on to note that “long-distance communication and telemetry in deep space is difficult for any mission, but especially for small satellites where mass and power constraints are a challenge.” He wanted to “provide a compelling communications solution for interplanetary missions.”

They couldn’t have done it without the prior work at APL. The Frontier-S is based on the Frontier radio, built by APL which flew on the Van Allen Probes, Parker Solar Probe, and the Emirates Mars Mission.”

This version works with S-band and “packs Deep Space Network and other common waveforms into a single board package with up-screened commercial components and low power digital signal processing for high reliability applications.”

You’ll find some surprising features. “Frontier-S includes extended functionality not typically available in a low-cost radio.” Things like “a coherent transponder to enable radiometric navigation methods, timekeeping functions, and a hardware-based critical command decoder.”

Designed to be “compatible with spacecraft as small as 6U cubesats,” the Frontier-S SDR “offers a lightweight, low power, high radiation tolerant telemetry and command solution for deep space missions that is also affordable for missions in LEO demanding high reliability.”

The radio is already aboard Pathstone, which is Rocket Lab’s second Photon mission. It will also be “integrated into Rocket Lab’s upcoming CAPSTONE mission to the moon for NASA and are planned for Rocket Lab’s own private Photon mission to Venus.”