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Smallsat Communications & Navigation — SST Portfolio Cluster

SST has funded 15+ communications, optical comms, and PNT projects spanning laser downlinks, intersatellite crosslinks, software-defined radios, phased arrays, and lunar navigation systems. This cluster produced one of NASA's most dramatic capability leaps: 200 Mbps to 200 Gbps optical downlink in under 6 years (OCSD → TBIRD), a 1000x improvement within the same program.

Last updated: 2026-04-14 (session 23 — SDSU reclassified to transitioned, CLICK-B/C Q2 2026, DORA orbital outcome, LunaNet PNT stack cross-refs, Aerospace Corp PNT updated, university org page links added, monitored project status updated)

Overview

Communications is the second-largest technology cluster in the SST portfolio (after propulsion). SST investments span the full communications stack:

Technology SST Projects Key Orgs Max TRL Achieved Flight?
Laser downlink 3 Aerospace Corp (OCSD), ARC, U Florida TRL 7 (OCSD flew) Yes
Laser crosslink 2 MIT (CLICK), ASU (DORA) TRL 7 (DORA flew) Yes
Optical comms (TBIRD) 1 MIT Lincoln Lab / Tyvak TRL 9 (flew, world record) Yes
Software-defined radio 2 Vulcan Wireless, GSFC TRL 7 (Vulcan qual) Yes (lunar)
Phased array antenna 1 SDSU TRL 5 Yes (HAB via FO)
Lunar PNT 2 CU Boulder, Aerospace Corp (UCLA sensing) TRL 6 No
Swarm comms/networking 3 ARC (EDSN/Nodes/V-R3x) TRL 7 (Nodes flew) Yes
Precision timing 2 Various TRL 4-5 No

The Optical Communications Pipeline: OCSD → TBIRD (1000x in 6 years)

The most compelling technology lineage in the entire SST portfolio is the optical communications progression:

OCSD — Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (11587)

  • TRL: 5→7 | Period: 2012-09 → 2018-03
  • Lead: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA | PI: Richard Welle
  • Three 1.5U CubeSats (AeroCube-7A, -7B, -7C). First demonstrated 200 Mbps laser downlink from a CubeSat to a 30 cm ground telescope.
  • Also demonstrated proximity operations (two sats maneuvered within 20 feet) and star-tracker pointing to 0.05° accuracy (20x better than prior CubeSat state of art).
  • Surprise: OCSD also demonstrated RF crosslinking between two CubeSats — an early precursor to Starling's MANET.

NTRS: 3+ publications. SmallSat Conference 2016 initial flight results.

Downstream: OCSD proved CubeSat laser comms were viable. This directly enabled TBIRD's 200 Gbps ambition.

Outcome: flew | Confidence: confirmed

TBIRD — TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (106821)

  • TRL: 5→9 | Period: 2019-12 → 2024-09
  • Lead: MIT Lincoln Lab (payload) on Tyvak 6U bus (PTD-3)
  • Demonstrated 200 Gbps optical downlink — world record for laser communications from space.
  • Transmitted terabytes of data per pass. 1000x improvement over OCSD in under 6 years.
  • 15 NTRS publications (most of any single SST project).

The lineage: OCSD (200 Mbps, 2016) → TBIRD (200 Gbps, 2022) = 1000x improvement within SST. Both funded by the same program, both using CubeSat-class spacecraft.

Outcome: flew (world record) | Confidence: confirmed

While OCSD/TBIRD focused on downlinks (space → ground), CLICK and DORA target crosslinks (space → space) — the key enabler for future constellation networking.

  • TRL: 4→7 (target) | Period: 2017-09 → 2026-07 | Status: Active
  • Lead: MIT | PI: Kerri Cahoy
  • Partners: University of Florida (pulse modulator), NASA Ames
  • Two sequential missions: CLICK-A (risk reduction, single 3U, space-to-ground) and CLICK-B/C (two 6U CubeSats, full-duplex laser crosslink at 20 Mbps over 25–580 km, plus precision ranging to 10 cm).
  • CLICK-B/C planned for 2024 launch.
  • CLICK operates at 1550 nm (same telecom wavelength as TBIRD), suggesting technology sharing.

Lineage connection: CLICK and OCSD together cover the full optical path — OCSD proved downlinks, CLICK proves crosslinks. Combined, they enable an all-optical CubeSat network.

NTRS: 1 citation found (2018 factsheet). Papers likely in SPIE/IEEE proceedings.

Flight status: CLICK-A launched July 14, 2022 aboard SpaceX CRS-25 to the ISS, deployed September 6, 2022 into 414 km orbit. First light on optical ground station November 10, 2022. Demonstrated fine steering mirror pointing (0.175 mrad RMS), correcting 8.5 mrad blind pointing error. Ground station tracking achieved 0.053 mrad RMS error. CLICK-B/C planned for Q2 2026 launch (slipped from original 2024 target). Will demonstrate full-duplex crosslink at 20 Mbps over 25–580 km with precision ranging to 0.5 m.

Publications: SmallSat 2023 paper: "CLICK-A: Optical Communication Experiments From a CubeSat Downlink Terminal." SPIE conference papers on mission status. IEEE Aerospace 2025 paper on B/C development status.

Outcome: flew | Confidence: confirmed (SpaceX CRS-25 manifest, NASA CLICK project page, SmallSat 2023 paper)

DORA — Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture (106810)

  • TRL: 3→7 | Period: 2020-07 → 2024-06
  • Lead: Arizona State University | PI: Daniel V. Jacobs
  • Partner: JPL
  • Novel deployable optical receiver for CubeSats — large collecting area eliminates need for precision pointing. 1 Gbps optical data rates at 5,000–10,000 km with only 10° pointing accuracy requirement.
  • Built with COTS components. 3U CubeSat form factor.
  • Deployed from ISS on October 8, 2024. However, orbital lifetime was only ~56 days due to heightened solar activity driving atmospheric drag at the ISS deployment altitude. Short mission limited data collection.
  • MSI institution (HSI).

Key innovation: DORA's relaxed pointing requirement (10° vs. sub-degree for conventional laser comms) could make optical crosslinks accessible to low-cost CubeSats without expensive attitude control systems.

NTRS: Paper 20230005792 — "Development of a Deployable Optical Aperture"

Outcome: flew (short-lived) | Confidence: confirmed | ASU org page

Software-Defined Radio: Vulcan Wireless

Vulcan SDR — DSN-Compatible Radio (106800)

  • TRL: 4→7 | Period: 2020-09 → 2024-09
  • Lead: Vulcan Wireless, Inc. | PI: Kevin Lynaugh
  • Partner: NASA GSFC (testing facilities and expertise)
  • Miniature software-defined S-band transceiver tested for space network (SN), near-Earth network (NEN), and DSN compatibility. <½U CubeSat form factor. 5-year mission lifetime.

Company profile — Vulcan Wireless: - San Diego-based, founded ~2004 - Federal footprint: ~$21M+ across 10+ awards - DoD: $19.4M (Navy $6.0M, Air Force $9.7M+, DARPA $1.5M) - Multiple SBIR Phase IIs (bandwidth-efficient waveforms, modular CubeSat architectures, UHF satcom, LPI/LPD antennas) - Commercial products: NSR-SDR-S/S (S-band), NSR-SDR-X/S (X-band, 200 Mbps downlink), NSR-SDR-U/U (UHF) - Lunar missions: Vulcan radios deployed across multiple lunar landers and orbiters, operating the first CCSDS Proximity 1 S-Band profile for the lunar environment. SmallSat 2024 paper: "Vulcan Wireless is Heading to the Moon."

SST's role: SST funded the DSN compatibility testing that qualified Vulcan's radio for deep-space missions. The company's DoD business (SBIR Phase IIs, Navy contracts) pre-dated SST, but SST opened the lunar/deep-space market.

Outcome: commercialized | Confidence: confirmed

Phased Array Antennas

SDSU — Ka-Band 5G Phased Array (106823)

  • TRL: 3→5 | Period: 2020-07 → 2022-06
  • Lead: San Diego State University | PI: Satish Sharma
  • Ka-band (25.5–27.5 GHz Tx/Rx, 22.55–23.55 GHz Tx/Rx) phased array using 5G silicon RFICs (Anokiwave beamformers). Two simultaneous steerable beams for 6U CubeSat comms between lunar surface, Gateway, and Earth.
  • MSI institution (HSI + AANAPISI).

Innovation angle: Leveraging commercial 5G chipsets for space comms — cost reduction through terrestrial technology transfer.

Downstream (session 20 reclassification): Sharma's phased array transitioned to NASA Flight Opportunities program as FIGARO-FT — high-altitude balloon flight test Sep 26, 2024. SST→FO pipeline confirmed (archetype #14). Sharma founded 5GAntennaTech LLC to commercialize the technology. SDSU is the only MSI with a confirmed flight in the SST portfolio.

Outcome: transitioned (SST→FO pipeline, HAB flight Sep 2024) | Confidence: confirmed (NASA FO page, Stratocat HAB record, NTRS 20250004153) | SDSU org page

Lunar Communications & Navigation

CU Boulder — Lunar Comms and Nav System (106832)

  • TRL: 3→6 | Period: 2020-07 → 2024-06
  • Lead: University of Colorado Boulder | PI: Scott E. Palo
  • Co-Is: Nick Rainville, Courtney B. Duncan (JPL)
  • LunaNet CubeSat PNT and messaging system: UHF two-way comms and ranging, plus broadcast PNT and alert system. Combines UHF, Ku-band, and X-band — "cell phone performance" for lunar surface.

People chain — Scott Palo: - PI on SST 91378 (GSFC High Rate X/S-band, 2013–2016, TRL 3→5) - PI on SST 106832 (CU Boulder Lunar comms, 2020–2024, TRL 3→6) - Two SST projects, 7 years apart, progressing from LEO CubeSat radios to lunar navigation systems. Career arc enabled by SST.

Outcome: unknown (TRL 6 reached, no flight) | Confidence: speculative

Aerospace Corp — PNT Module (106828)

  • TRL: unknown | Period: 2020-07 → 2025-09
  • Lead: The Aerospace Corporation | PI: Chee Wei Wong (UCLA, Co-I), Andrey Matsko (JPL, Co-I)
  • High-precision continuous-time PNT compact module for LunaNet small spacecraft. Optomechanical accelerometer for cislunar sensing.
  • Part of the LunaNet PNT stack — see below.

Outcome: transitioned (Wong component → FO flight test [145005]) | Confidence: confirmed | UCLA org page

The LunaNet PNT Stack (session 20 surprise)

Four SST projects from the 2020 solicitation cycle build complementary layers of the LunaNet cislunar architecture — not top-down coordinated, but emergent:

Layer SST Project Lead PI Status
Positioning 106826 Crater-based Nav UT Austin Brandon Jones Active (SCOPE-1 demo ~2027)
Sensing 106828 PNT Module Aerospace Corp / UCLA Chee Wei Wong → FO flight test
Timing 155361 Microphotonic Clocks Caltech Kerry Vahala TRL 3 (no transition)
Comms 106832 Lunar Comms CU Boulder Scott Palo TRL 6 (no flight)

Andrey Matsko (JPL) is Co-I on both the UCLA sensing and Caltech timing projects — the human connector bridging two architecture layers. 2 of 4 projects transitioned to FO. See LunaNet PNT stack surprise and PNT topic page.

Outcome for the stack: suggestive emergent architecture (archetype #15) | Caltech org page | UT Austin org page

Swarm Communications: EDSN → Nodes → V-R3x → Starling

SST built a multi-mission lineage in swarm networking:

EDSN — Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (10941)

  • Period: 2012-10 → 2016-01
  • Lead: Ames Research Center
  • 8 identical 1.5U CubeSats to demonstrate intersatellite networking.
  • Lost in Super Strypi launch failure, November 3, 2015 (all 8 destroyed).

Nodes — Network & Operation Demonstration Satellite (91369)

  • Period: 2014-01 → 2016-06
  • Lead: Ames Research Center
  • Built from EDSN spare parts. 2× 1.5U CubeSats.
  • Deployed from ISS May 16, 2016. Demonstrated first inter-satellite autonomous command relay for CubeSats — one satellite relayed commands to the other without ground intervention.
  • Partner: Santa Clara University (ground ops).

V-R3x — Payload Accelerator for CubeSat Endeavors (106824)

  • Period: 2019-12 → 2021-08
  • Lead: Ames Research Center (PACE initiative)
  • 3× 1U CubeSats, launched January 24, 2021. Demonstrated radio networking and two-way time-of-flight ranging between satellites for orbit determination.
  • Built on PyCubed (open-source CubeSat framework from Stanford/Max Holliday).
  • First flight of the PACE initiative (bridges SST and Flight Opportunities programs).

Starling — Swarm Demo (106822)

  • Period: 2019-04 → 2024-05
  • Lead: Blue Canyon Technologies (bus), Ames (mission)
  • 4× 6U CubeSats. Demonstrated MANET mesh networking, autonomous maneuvering (StarFOX), and distributed space autonomy (DSA). All 4 experiments successful.
  • 7 NTRS publications. See BCT org page.

The swarm comms lineage: 

EDSN (2015, lost) → Nodes (2016, 2 sats, relay demo)
                   → V-R3x (2021, 3 sats, ranging demo)  
                   → Starling (2023, 4 sats, MANET mesh + autonomy)

Each mission increased the number of nodes, the sophistication of the networking protocol, and the level of autonomy. EDSN's loss was absorbed because Nodes was built from spares. This is SST's most persistent technology lineage — 4 missions over 10 years, all ARC-led.

Early-Stage Research (TRL 2–5, no flight)

ARC — Laser Beam Amplification (91601)

  • TRL: 3→5 | Period: 2013-10 → 2016-04
  • PI: Govind P. Agrawal (Rochester)
  • Modulating retro-reflector (MRR) laser amplification for satellite-to-ground optical comms. Novel approach: weaker ground laser, amplified return.

UC Irvine — Omnidirectional ISOC (90670)

  • TRL: 2→3 | Period: 2016-08 → 2018-08
  • PI: Ozdal Boyraz
  • Dodecahedron MEMS gimbal-less scanning mirror array for omnidirectional laser comms. Spherical field of view, no moving parts.
  • MSI institution (AANAPISI + HSI).
  • TRL: 3→4 | Period: 2016-08 → 2018-08
  • PI: John W. Conklin
  • Miniature Optical Communications Transceiver (MOCT) — software-defined pulse modulator + laser + avalanche photodetector. Designed for CLICK-type crosslink missions.
  • Connection: UF is a CLICK partner (Kerri Cahoy's MIT team + UF). This project likely fed technology into CLICK-B/C.

GSFC — High Rate X/S-band (91378)

  • TRL: 3→5 | Period: 2013-10 → 2016-04
  • PI: Scott E. Palo (CU Boulder)
  • S-band 200 kbps receiver + X-band 12.5 Mbps transmitter compatible with NASA Near Earth Network. CubeSat-standard form factor.
  • People chain: Palo later led CU Boulder lunar comms project [106832] (see above).

Additional Comms Projects (session 6)

Ka-Band Software Defined Radio (91337)

  • TRL: 3→6 | Period: 2016-01 → 2017-10
  • Lead: University of Vermont | PI: Tian Xia
  • States: MD, MA, VT
  • Ka-band transceiver for 500 Mbps inter-satellite links with millimeter ranging precision. Published 3 papers: 28/38 GHz dual-band PLL, LNA circuit design, cascaded PLL (DOI links in TechPort record).
  • No visible downstream product or mission. Academic research.

Outcome: no-visible-outcome (academic) | Confidence: confirmed

Integrated Solar-Panel Antenna Array — ISAAC (91602)

  • TRL: 5→5 | Period: 2015-10 → 2017-10
  • Lead: USU | PI: Reyhan Baktur
  • States: MD, UT (ANNH MSI)
  • Optically transparent X-band antenna array integrated with solar panels — doesn't compete for surface area. Circularly polarized, modular, high-gain. CubeSat-standard form factor.
  • TRL stayed at 5 (no advancement). Part of USU's 5-project SST cluster.

Outcome: no-visible-outcome | Confidence: confirmed

Move to Talk, Talk to Move — Swarm Comms/Controls (95553)

  • TRL: 2→4 | Period: 2018-03 → 2022-04
  • Lead: Colorado School of Mines | PI: Qi Han
  • States: CA, CO
  • Destinations: Moon, Others Inside the Solar System
  • Framework for tight integration of communication and controls in self-organizing small spacecraft swarms. Open-source: NASA ICC on GitHub and 42-NS3 simulation platform.
  • The open-source contribution is notable — NASA ICC code is publicly available for swarm comms research. No visible commercial or mission adoption.

Outcome: no-visible-outcome (academic + open source) | Confidence: confirmed

Cross-Cutting Findings

1. The 1000x Optical Leap

OCSD (200 Mbps, 2016) → TBIRD (200 Gbps, 2022) is arguably NASA's most dramatic technology capability jump from CubeSat platforms. Both funded by SST, both CubeSat-class. The TBIRD world record put NASA's small spacecraft optical comms ahead of much larger programs.

Downlinks are mature (TBIRD at TRL 9). Crosslinks are still maturing (CLICK-A flew 2022, CLICK-B/C targeting Q2 2026; DORA flew Oct 2024 but only ~56 days on orbit). The gap matters: future constellations need both. DORA's relaxed pointing requirement (10°) could democratize optical crosslinks for cheap CubeSats, but the short orbital lifetime limited validation.

3. Lunar Infrastructure Push (2020–2024) and the LunaNet PNT Stack

Five SST comms projects started in 2020 target lunar operations: Vulcan SDR, SDSU phased array, CU Boulder LunaNet, Aerospace Corp PNT, and deployable optical aperture. All align with Artemis/LunaNet architecture. This is the largest coordinated lunar technology push in SST's history. Four of these form an emergent architecture stack for LunaNet (positioning, sensing, timing, comms) — not top-down coordinated, but with JPL's Matsko bridging two layers. See LunaNet PNT stack surprise.

3a. SST→FO Pipeline in Comms

Two comms projects transitioned from SST to Flight Opportunities: SDSU phased array (FIGARO-FT HAB flight Sep 2024) and UCLA optomechanical accelerometer (FO [145005] flight test). This SST→FO pipeline is the dominant university transition pathway (archetype #14, n=4 across all SST). See University & Academic Outcomes.

4. People Chains in Comms

  • Richard Welle: PI on OCSD [11587] → lead author on DiskSat papers [106801]. Same person bridging two major SST innovations at Aerospace Corp.
  • Scott Palo: PI on GSFC X/S-band [91378] (2013) → PI on CU Boulder lunar comms [106832] (2020). Career progression from LEO radios to lunar navigation, enabled by SST.
  • John Conklin / Kerri Cahoy: U Florida MOCT [94153] → CLICK [94065]. Co-investigators across projects.

5. The ARC Swarm Program

Ames Research Center dominates swarm comms: EDSN, Nodes, V-R3x, Starling (mission ops). This is an institutional capability, not just individual projects. ARC's swarm comms expertise is one of SST's most persistent internal assets.

6. Monitored Missions (session 23)

  • CLICK-B/C: Q2 2026 launch target (slipped from 2024). Full-duplex crosslink demo.
  • VISORS: Targeting 2025 launch — 4+ SST people chains converge on this NSF mission. See VISORS convergence.
  • SWARM-EX: Slipped to Dec 2026 on ELaNa 59. 3 SST people chains. See SWARM-EX convergence.
  • SCOPE-1 (UT Austin): Assembly fall 2026, launch target 2027. Crater-based lunar nav demo.

Organizations

Topics & Surprises