Latest news with #HybridSpaceArchitecture
Broadcast Pro
24-07-2025
- Business
- Broadcast Pro
Viasat joins DIU Hybrid Space Architecture programme
Viasat joins select industry companies in demonstrating key HSA capabilities, with AI-based network maneuverability. Viasat has been chosen by the US Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) to support the next phase of the Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA) project, a transformative initiative aimed at integrating civil, commercial and military space assets into a unified communications network. This cutting-edge effort is designed to provide secure, resilient and adaptive communications that will significantly enhance situational awareness and decision-making for US and allied military forces. As part of the HSA initiative, DIU has awarded contracts to multiple companies, including Viasat, to prototype and demonstrate technologies that push forward hybrid space capabilities. These demonstrations will take place over the coming year in various global theatres, including the Indo-Pacific, Europe, Central and South Command areas, with some activities set to begin as early as this summer. Craig Miller, President of Viasat Government, said: 'Were proud to be part of this joint effort between government and the commercial sector to bring modern, rapidly available hybrid network capabilities to the battlespace to increase resilience, protection and provide warfighters with the real-time information they need. Our vision is to deliver agile, resilient capabilities that adapt in machine time to deter or overcome any adversarys attack plans making it impractical and self-defeating to consider conflict with US or allied forces.' Viasats Resilient Space Missions team, under the Defence and Advanced Technologies segment, will focus on demonstrating inter-Network Maneuvering, which is designed to allow seamless roaming and interoperability across government and commercial networks. This network interoperability and commercial integration are key to achieving US Space Force (USSF) objectives and capabilities as outlined in multiple strategic documents (USSF Commercial Space Strategy, USSF Doctrine Document and USSF Space Warfighting Framework). As part of its demonstration plans, Viasat will use its software-defined networking platform, NetAgility, to enable multi-path routing of communications to optimize data transport across the battlefield, delivering a dynamic capability that enhances network resilience. Viasats solution uses real-time network and mission situational awareness to drive intelligent, data-informed network selection and orchestration, offering continuous space-based connectivity through multi-orbit, multi-vendor networks. Miller continued: 'We believe our expertise in satellite communications and network integration can be instrumental for the DoDs HSA capability aims, delivering the network optionality that provides a strategic advantage. Viasat is committed to this effort because not only is a unified space network critical to the future operational needs of data-centric warfare, but it will also demonstrate effective resilience and help preserve the freedom to maneuver in space.' The HSA project is a collaboration between DIU and US Space Systems Command, in consultation with other Department of Defense agencies and combatant commands, to engage the commercial sector in the development of hybrid network technologies and solutions. Agile acquisition will facilitate the rapid integration, testing, and validation of these commercial technologies, with the goal to pilot an operational hybrid commercial and government space architecture by 2026.
Business Wire
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Planet Secures Four Major Wins for AI-Enabled Solutions in the Defense and Intelligence Sector
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today announced that following its June 4, 2025 earnings announcement, it has secured four major awards for its new AI-enabled solutions with customers in the Defense & Intelligence sector. These wins build on the global momentum discussed on Planet's last earnings call. Planet Labs PBC today announced it has secured four major awards for its new AI-enabled solutions with customers in the Defense & Intelligence sector. These contracts support enhanced situational awareness and informed decision-making for government customers in the U.S. and internationally. They underscore the growing demand for Planet's modern approach to national security, leveraging its proprietary satellite data and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Among the key agreements being highlighted: As announced today in a separate press release, Planet won a €240 million contract, funded by Germany, one component of which is a multi-year contract renewal with an 8-figure annual value for PlanetScope data and AI-enabled solutions. In addition, Planet's existing Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA) contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, was recently expanded in support of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). It will provide AI-enabled solutions focused on delivering vital indications and warnings for national security. As the U.S. government modernizes its defense capabilities, Planet's broad area data and AI advancements are designed to enable customers to monitor entire countries or regions for critical changes and threats. Planet signed a seven-figure expansion with the U.S. Navy to provide Maritime Domain Awareness over the Pacific Ocean region. Finally, as announced on June 12, 2025, Planet was selected by NATO for a seven-figure contract to deliver persistent space-based surveillance, enhanced indications and warnings, and critical Maritime Domain Awareness functions. These wins build on the momentum highlighted in Planet's other recent announcements, which include another 8-figure annual contract value win with a European defense and intelligence customer for PlanetScope and Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) products, as announced on Planet's prior earnings call. Additionally, Planet was recently awarded a contract option by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) as part of the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) program. This extends Planet's provision of daily monitoring and high-resolution tasking data, maintaining its prior EOCL performance level from June through October 2025. 'As shared on our recent earnings call, the changing geopolitical landscape and modernization of security capabilities are driving unprecedented interest in our solutions,' said Will Marshall, Planet's Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. 'Today's announcements highlight the strong demand for AI-enabled solutions and our data, demonstrated by the multiple contracts with an eight-figure annual contract value.' Will Marshall continued, 'Our strategic decision to focus on AI-enabled solutions built on our daily satellite data was clearly the right decision. Nations are showing strong interest in these solutions for 'peripheral vision' – the ability to identify and understand threats across their region.' Planet's unique dataset, ideal for AI models and building next-generation solutions, includes daily scans of approximately 150 million square kilometers of land and 20 million square kilometers of critical ocean territory, complemented by an archive of over 3,000 images for every point on land. This wide-area monitoring capability empowers customers to uncover new threats, or "unknown unknowns," across vast land and ocean territories, moving beyond traditional "reconnaissance"-based intelligence gathering that primarily focuses on known threats. 'These wins clearly demonstrate the results of our go-to-market and product focus,' said Ashley Johnson, President and CFO. 'As shared in our prior earnings call, we're making a strategic shift towards downstream solutions, which is validated with significant customer wins such as those announced today. We look forward to sharing more on our Q2 call.' Planet is not updating its previously issued financial guidance for this fiscal year, which was provided on June 4, 2025. Planet will host a Press Briefing for members of the media today, July 1, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 a.m. PT. The live webinar can be accessed at and requires registration to participate. Concurrent with today's announcement, Planet has launched a new Defense & Intelligence section of its website, which can be accessed at About Planet Labs PBC Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to customers comprising the world's leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit and follow us on X (formerly Twitter) or tune in to HBO's 'Wild Wild Space.' Forward-looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release are 'forward-looking statements' about Planet within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about Planet's future cash flows and revenue, Planet's strategic partnerships, the expansion of the high resolution capacity of Planet's fleet and the delivery of such capacity to Planet customers, and Planet's future growth in new and existing markets. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are detailed in Planet's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Planet does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.
Forbes
23-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Hybrid Space Imperative: Weather As The First Mission
A naval vessel cuts through towering waves during high-storm conditions. America's strategic edge in space depends on more than launch capacity or satellite numbers—it relies on speed, agility, and the seamless integration of public and commercial capabilities into a unified, resilient ecosystem. That is the promise of the Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA): a federated space enterprise where government and private-sector assets interoperate to deliver actionable intelligence at machine speed. Yet while the vision is broadly embraced, execution remains sluggish. Too many agencies are still anchored in a 20th-century mindset, with processes designed to reinforce outdated paradigms and procurement cycles that drag on for years. At the same time, operational units often lack access to the most advanced commercial data already available on orbit. The challenge is no longer one of feasibility, it's one of commitment and follow-through. Consider weather intelligence as a proving ground for hybrid space capability. Achieving a true hybrid architecture in this domain—where data refresh rates, global coverage, and precision are paramount—means that we can deliver it anywhere. Few mission areas better demonstrate both the promise and urgency of HSA implementation than weather intelligence. America is entering another summer of converging hazards: softball-sized hail threatening the Texas energy corridor, U.S. destroyers navigating strike operations in the Red Sea, and hurricane seasons that experts warn could rival the record-breaking intensity of 2020. Along the coast, NOAA anticipates 17–21 named storms this season. Even a 10 percent improvement in forecast accuracy can translate into billions in savings and critical hours gained for evacuation efforts. And across the homeland, infrastructure built for the 20th century is buckling under the pressures of 21st-century climate extremes. Centimeter-scale weather awareness is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity for keeping runways open, power grids stable, and supply chains moving. Whether the call is to shut down a refinery, launch a combat sortie, or evacuate a coastal city, one overlooked variable can change everything: precise, real-time weather data. On the front line, U.S. and partner forces have executed over 800 defensive strikes in Yemen in just the past six weeks. Real-time weather inputs—cloud ceilings, dust plumes, wind shear—could sharpen targeting windows and reduce risk, but today often sit unused due to bureaucratic lags. And that data is already available. Over the past decade, commercial innovators have deployed a new generation of venture-backed smallsats equipped with lightning mappers, Ka-band precipitation radars, and hyperspectral imagers—all delivering performance at a fraction of the cost and mass of legacy systems. These sensors now refresh global temperature, humidity, and precipitation data in minutes. In short: the architecture for weather dominance is already in orbit. Boston-based is one of many such commercial space data companies. They've already launched five microwave-sounder satellites in the past five months and now deliver global temperature and humidity profiles hourly. That's about 10x faster than legacy systems, for those keeping score. In terms of revisit-rate, CEO and Co-founder Shimon Elkabetz tells us, 'We are already exceeding the combined capacity of all national assets on orbit, and we're on track to hit 300 percent improvement, from about three hours to one hour.' What's still missing is the connective tissue, the operational and acquisition infrastructure needed to integrate these sensors into mission workflows across DoD, DHS, NOAA, and beyond. This level of integration is exactly what a functioning Hybrid Space Architecture would make routine. There are three key steps that would move HSA from blueprint to battlefield and could be adapted by the Space Force, NRO, and NASA. First, establish low-cost, open-architecture operational testbeds to foster a 'fly-before-you-buy' culture. These digital environments could be stood up within 60–90 days and aligned with ongoing government missions—whether tracking hurricanes, directing strike packages, or coordinating disaster relief. Such testbeds would enable real-world performance evaluation while informing smarter long-term procurement strategies. The outcome: drastically reduced acquisition risk and faster learning cycles. Second, develop common interfaces and interoperability standards, following the lead of the Space Development Agency's laser communication protocols. Over time, a government-wide exchange, modeled after the Defense Innovation Unit's commercial services framework, could allow all federal agencies to access calibrated, validated datasets, without the burden of crafting bespoke contracts. Weather data makes an ideal starting point: it's unclassified, globally relevant, and mission-critical across agencies. Finally, stand up mission-centric integration teams where private-sector data scientists are embedded alongside government meteorologists and planners. Agile teams that iterate weekly, not annually, will accelerate the transformation of raw data into mission-ready intelligence. Because the true value of the HSA lies not just in the data, but in turning that data into decisive action. What's missing isn't the data or the technology. Winning this second space race requires an acquisition system built not just for oversight, but for speed, scale, and operational relevance. If we can't federate space assets to address this challenge—where the stakes are urgent and the data is already overhead—what confidence can we have in our ability to respond during crisis or conflict? The HSA must now move beyond slide decks and talking points. It must enable real-time, multi-sensor tasking and deliver direct support to operations, not someday, but now. That shift won't come from theory, either. It comes from action, field-level integration, and a system willing to prioritize outcomes over process. We have the tools. The question is whether we have the will before the next storm forces our hand.
Business Wire
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
ATLAS Space Operations Demonstrates Transformative Capabilities for Air Force Research Lab through the Defense Innovation Unit's Hybrid Space Architecture for Department of Defense
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ATLAS Space Operations, including its wholly owned subsidiary Freedom Space Technologies, announced today the successful completion of a series of demonstrations showcasing its Freedom ® Software Platform's ability to integrate diverse government and commercial satellite ground station networks for the U.S. Air Force Research Lab and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). These demonstrations validated a transformative approach to satellite ground operations, providing secure, scalable, and resilient space data transmission. "By unifying disparate ground networks through a secure, cloud-native interface, we've demonstrated how Freedom transforms satellite operations into a scalable, software-defined service," said Brad Bode, CTO & Co-Founder, ATLAS Space Operations. Through the DIU Hybrid Space Architecture project, ATLAS demonstrated the Freedom platform's capability to manage and orchestrate multiple disparate networks, ensuring timely data transmission while maintaining information assurance and security. The software's architecture, built on best-in-class commercial practices, features software-defined controls, interfaces, and security, ensuring flexibility and trust amidst rapid technological changes. Key objectives achieved during the project include integrating commercial networks, such as the ATLAS global network and Viasat's Real-Time Earth, onboarding DoD assets, and enabling rapid access for federal users, including the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). The Freedom UI provided an intuitive, web-based interface for operators to manage satellite contacts across these diverse networks, while advanced cyber controls, aligned with DFARS/NIST 800-171 standards, secured data and communications. "By unifying disparate ground networks through a secure, cloud-native interface, we've demonstrated how Freedom transforms satellite operations into a scalable, software-defined service," said Brad Bode, CTO & Co-Founder, ATLAS Space Operations. "This architecture not only ensures rapid onboarding and cross-network orchestration but also delivers resilient, mission-ready connectivity aligned with the DoD's need for agile and secure space access." Key outcomes of the demonstrations include: Operational Interoperability: Seamless integration across DoD and commercial ground station assets, including secure tasking and telemetry. Cybersecurity Maturity: Meeting DFARS/NIST 800-171 compliance and demonstrating readiness for FedRAMP and ITAR requirements. ATLAS and Freedom Space Technologies also completed a NIST 800-53 Rev. 5 Moderate baseline security assessment. Federated User Access: Successful onboarding of the U.S. Army SMDC, proving the platform's ability to support diverse agencies securely. Dynamic Scheduling and Network Abstraction: Enabling task execution across multi-vendor networks through a seamless user experience. Scalability and Modularity: Demonstrating the platform's ability to scale by adding antennas, users, and partners without system re-architecture. Enhanced User Experience: Providing an intuitive interface for scheduling, monitoring, and data retrieval. Readiness for Future Capabilities: Collecting rich data to enable predictive analytics, automated mission validation, and machine learning-driven autonomous operations. About ATLAS Space Operations, Inc. ATLAS Space Operations is the leading provider of Ground Software as a Service™ in the space communications industry. ATLAS' revolutionary Freedom ® software has been recognized by industry-leading publications and organizations such as Via Satellite and CIO Review. Additionally, Aerospace & Defense Review named ATLAS the Space Tech Company of the Year (2024) and acknowledged ATLAS as one of the Top Satellite Solutions Providers (2024, 2023). Lastly, ATLAS was highlighted in the CIO Review: Telecom Edition as Company of the Year (2023), as well as one of the 10 Most Promising Technologies. ATLAS combines the Freedom Software Platform and its federated global antenna network to achieve its mission of securing space access anytime, anywhere. To learn more, visit
National Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
SES Space & Defense to Provide Hybrid Space-Based Architecture to U.S. Department of Defense
Article content Article content RESTON, Va. — SES Space & Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, joins the Defense Innovation Unit's (DIU) Hybrid Space Architecture Network initiative. SES's Hybrid Space Architecture II project will showcase an automatically orchestrated secure integrated multi-orbit network that interconnects commercial and government networks to deliver assured and affordable, low-latency, multi-path communications across a scalable and resilient multi-domain network. Article content SES Space & Defense will deliver an engineered multi-orbit network leveraging Secure Integrated Multi-Orbit Networking (SIMON™). This will enable always-on connectivity as an affordable, resilient alternative to traditional Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (PACE) and auto-PACE operations currently used by warfighters across the Department of Defense (DoD) worldwide. By blending LEO, MEO, and GEO capabilities in a purposeful manner, SIMON™ ensures that the warfighters' data can affordably traverse multiple orbital regimes simultaneously, adapting and adjusting in real time to changing mission requirements. Article content 'With SIMON™, warfighters will have the ability to 'set and forget' their user terminals and affordably realize assured connectivity across multiple orbits,' says David Fields, President and CEO of SES Space & Defense. 'This transformational approach solves a decades-long dichotomy of affordability versus resilience, providing SATCOM agility, flexibility, and reliability for the forward deployed personnel.' Article content SES Space & Defense is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES and is exclusively focused on building, managing, and supporting the most advanced satellite network solutions for the U.S. Government. SES Space & Defense uses a proven multi-operator network integration and management capability, a broad global terrestrial network, as well as access to SES's multi-orbit satellite fleet. It also offers U.S. Department of Defense customers the essential tools in cybersecurity for mission-critical operations, coupled with a proven track record in governance and compliance. SES Space & Defense operates under a proxy board, enabling it to support classified projects, and it has participated in the U.S. Government satcom sector for nearly five decades. Further information can be found at: Article content SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on Earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless data connectivity services around the world. As a provider of global content and connectivity solutions, SES owns and operates a geosynchronous orbit fleet and medium earth orbit (GEO-MEO) constellation of satellites, offering a combination of global coverage and high performance services. By using its intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES delivers high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners around the world. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Article content Article content
