To meet the growing demand for optical communication technologies from the U.S. Government and the space industry, TESAT is forming TESAT Government (TESAT Gov), a U.S.-based organization, and establishing a manufacturing facility in Merritt Island, Florida. TESAT Gov, as an Airbus U.S. Space & Defense subsidiary, can support both U.S.-only and classified work. The new company will deliver American-made Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) for the U.S. security-restricted market by combining TESAT’s proven OCT technologies and U.S. security protected content.
“In the past years, we have seen a growing demand for optical communication technologies not only from our commercial customers but also from governments. In order to meet the U.S. Government’s demand and comply with all national security restrictions and classified prospects, we decided to expand TESATs footprint and form a U.S.-based organization, TESAT Government. This new organization will provide U.S. governmental programs domestic expertise and manufacturing, which is planned to start by the end of 2023,” said Thomas Reinartz, CEO of TESAT.
“We are excited to continue to deliver world class optical communications technology tailored to U.S. needs,” added Robert Geckle, CEO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, TESAT Gov’s parent company. “The presence in the U.S. ensures a closer working relationship with customers in support of U.S. Government programs.”
As the pioneer of optical communication technology in space, TESAT is working as an active member of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) interoperability-working group. Its family of Scalable Optical Terminals (SCOT) is compliant with the current SDA OCT standard V3.0 and can be delivered off the shelf.
With more than 550,000 operational hours, 10 Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) in orbit and 78,000 successfully performed inter-satellite links, TESAT is the only provider worldwide for in-orbit-verified OCTs, delivering customer results since 2007.
