Viasat has selected Rocket Lab to build a Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite for its contract on the Protected Tactical Satcom-Global (PTS-G) program. Rocket Lab will deliver a spacecraft based on its Lightning platform to host Viasat’s dual-band X/Ka-band payload, Rocket Lab announced Monday. 

This comes after Viasat received a contract in May to deliver the first of a proliferated fleet of small, maneuverable GEO satellites to provide protected tactical satcom capabilities to the U.S. Space Force. SES received an award as well. 

Rocket Lab said the initial production award, known as Swarm 1, includes manufacturing, integration and test, launch, and on-orbit checkout of the mini-GEO satellite system. Viasat will provide its technical and operational expertise as well. 

Rocket Lab’s Lightning platform is a roughly 3 kW bus designed for high-power, long-life missions. The Lightning bus is the basis for the company’s work for the Space Development Agency, two space domain awareness (SDA) satellites for the Space Force, and Globalstar’s satellite refresh, which just saw the first eight satellites launch over the weekend. The satellite platform is built with Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated components and subsystems. 

“By combining Viasat’s cutting-edge communications payload technology with Rocket Lab’s proven spacecraft platform, we are advancing a more agile and resilient GEO architecture designed to support mission-critical communications hot spots in contested environments,” commented Viasat Government President Craig Miller. “We are excited to showcase how low cost, high performance dual-use technology can provide reliable connectivity for evolving missions in an increasingly contested tactical communications environment.”