In-Space Relay and Wifi Service

In-space wifi technology matured through the Flight Opportunities program will be demonstrated on an upcoming commercial orbital flight. Reliable communications are essential for a wide range of missions, from crewed space stations to lunar exploration such as Artemis, enabling two-way crew-to-ground links and inter-spacecraft data transmission.

Solstar Space Company of Santa Fe developed satellite communications that use commercial satellite networks to provide internet and voice for people and payloads in space—essentially in-space wifi. With support from Flight Opportunities, Solstar tested its system on four suborbital campaigns aboard a high-altitude balloon, a sounding rocket, and a suborbital launch vehicle, advancing the technology’s readiness for space missions.

Those tests confirmed commercial satellite networks can serve space-based users and payloads. During the April 2018 flight test, Solstar demonstrated the first-ever commercial wifi service in space by sending a social media post from above the Kármán line.

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