Press release

NASA Awards ATLAS Space Operations Space Relay Partnership and Services Study Contract

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

ATLAS Space Operations, Inc., a leading innovator in communications for
the space industry, today announced NASA has awarded it a contract for
the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program’s Space Relay
Partnership and Services Study. Prime contractor ATLAS partnered in its
proposal with Laser Light Communications, Inc, a leader in advanced
optical communications and data distribution via its proprietary HALO
Global Network. Both firms are founders of the Empower Space Alliance.
As part of the contract, ATLAS will explore ways to help NASA enable new
and greater scientific discovery, improve communication and navigation
services, and reduce development and operations costs for both networks
and missions.

During the evaluation process, NASA found that ATLAS’s proposal “would
provide substantial value to the government through completion of its
study.” In recognition of ATLAS’s promising technology and industry
experience, ATLAS was the only small business that was awarded a
contract.

“ATLAS is pleased to be among the selected community which represents
the depth and breadth of the emerging field of optical communications,”
said Sean McDaniel, CEO and Founder of ATLAS. “NASA’s awarding of this
contract to participate in the study is the latest step in ATLAS’
mission to demonstrate the value of integrating advanced commercial
communication technology in government applications. We are especially
proud to be the only small business and new entrant in this sector,
which represents NASA and the government’s interest in new approaches
and applications in space communications.”

“Working with Atlas on its submission to NASA for this study, was a
tangible extension of our existing relationship as founders and partners
in the Empower Space Alliance,” said Bob Brumley, CEO, Laser Light.
“This study will enable us to outline and validate for NASA, the
benefits of a secure, commercially-owned and operated solution for
space-based optical communications in near Earth and Deep Space.”

ATLAS Space Operations is at SATELLITE 2019 at the Walter E. Washington
Convention Center in Washington, D.C. from May 6-9, at booth 2142.
There, attendees can learn more about this program. ATLAS industry
experts will also be on hand to discuss the latest trends in space
communications, including technology, security and the new space
economy. To book interviews, please use the contact information below.

About ATLAS Space Operations

ATLAS Space Operations, Inc., based in Traverse City, Michigan, empowers
global access to space through FreedomTM, a simple solution
for processing and analyzing data from space, through a global antenna
network, powered by a revolutionary cloud-based software. ATLAS’s
forward-thinking communications solutions are transforming the space
industry by making ground communications simple, affordable and scalable
than ever before. For more information on ATLAS Space Operations, please
visit https://www.atlasground.com/.

About Laser Light Communications

Laser Light intends to deploy its proprietary All Optical Hybrid Global
Communications Network – HALO. The service capacity of the planned HALO
Global Network will be +33Tbps. The HALO network – satellite and
SD-WAN’s – will be fully interconnected with Laser Light’s proprietary
Extended Ground Network System (XGNS), a greenfield software-defined
fiber network, and its patented StarBeam operating system, ensuring its
customers carrier-grade service, enhanced redundancy, resiliency, and
unprecedented privacy & security. HALO is designed to support its
“Optical Satellite as a Service” (O-SaaS) product suite – Global Access
100Gbps Circuits and its proprietary HALO Direct Connect service – for
global enterprises, data centers, media, finance firms; carriers; and
government entities. http://www.laserlightcomms.com.

About the Empower Space Alliance

The Empower Space Alliance is the first space to ground global data
distribution joint venture to exclusively use optical communications,
and is comprised of Xenesis,
ATLAS
Space Operations
, and Laser
Light Communications
. Empower Space™ will provide a turnkey
direct optical data distribution service from spacecraft to customer
locations, worldwide.
Empower Space™ intends to serve LEO, MEO, GEO,
Cislunar, and Deep Space customers with standardized interoperability,
robust data capacity and unprecedented access to customer locations
worldwide. Space data platforms will now have a choice between relying
on radio frequency (RF) transmission and distribution, or higher
capacity all optical “direct delivery” of their data to its ultimate
distribution…on a single network.