On October 21, Viasat announced the successful launch of Maxwell,
a spacecraft used for a NASA communications services demonstration.
The launch took place on October 20, U.S. time.
Through tests including data relay via geostationary satellites,
Viasat aims to deliver a service that enables continuous communication
with spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
The Announcement: Launch Complete, Moving to On-Orbit Communication Tests
Maxwell was launched at 7:04 a.m. ET on October 20
on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Carried on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission,
it will undergo about five months of on-orbit testing and demonstration,
running through March 2027, according to Viasat.
Viasat has received two awards totaling $81 million
under NASA’s Communications Services Project (CSP).
This is the company’s second CSP demonstration;
the first tested launch telemetry relay
during Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch in November 2025.
This announcement concerns the launch of the demonstration spacecraft,
and performance verification of the communications service is not yet complete.
What Is Being Tested: Relay via Geostationary Satellites and Direct-to-Ground Links
Maxwell carries a Ka-band terminal that connects to the high-capacity
ViaSat-3 network, and a terminal that connects to Viasat’s L-band network.
Through relay via geostationary satellites,
Viasat aims to enable LEO spacecraft to access data,
track, and receive commands wherever they are in orbit.
The demonstration also includes direct-to-ground communications
in S-, X-, and Ka-bands using the Real-Time Earth ground station service.
Maxwell was built by Rocket Lab.
In addition to the spacecraft, Rocket Lab provided the radio
used for the L-band relay demonstration.
Viasat envisions expanding the service to government and commercial
LEO missions as well as NASA use.
Background: NASA’s Shift to Commercial Relay Services
NASA explains that it needs both high-rate communications
for sending large volumes of data, such as science data and 4K imagery,
and low-rate communications for tracking spacecraft
and sending basic commands.
The demonstration will test both the ability to carry large amounts of data
and the ability to maintain connectivity with spacecraft.
CSP is an effort to move future LEO missions to commercial services
in anticipation of the gradual retirement
of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet.
In 2022, NASA awarded a total of $278.5 million
to develop satellite services for space missions.
CSP is managed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center
and will continue testing relay capabilities with industry through 2027.
The same launch also placed a demonstration spacecraft
from SES Space and Defense into low Earth orbit.
SES plans to use its O3b mPOWER fleet in medium Earth orbit for high-rate data
and its geostationary satellites for low-rate data.
NASA will evaluate future communication options
through demonstrations by multiple companies.
LC Signal’s Perspective: Communications for Keeping Observation Satellites in Use
Viasat says continuous connectivity will support
dynamic re-tasking of spacecraft and real-time data collection.
Delivering observed information to the ground
and sending the next instructions from the ground
are part of a single operation.
This demonstration seems likely to be an opportunity to see
how far the communications infrastructure for making use of LEO satellites
can be developed as a commercial service.
Key Sources
-
Viasat official announcement, October 21, 2026:
Viasat Advances NASA Communications Services Project Demonstration with Successful Launch
-
NASA official announcement, October 20, 2026:
Two NASA Commercial Satellite Communication Demonstrations Launch
This article was prepared with AI assistance using publicly available information
as of October 22, 2026.
Announcement dates follow the dates shown on the official pages.
What has been launched is distinguished
from the communication capabilities to be demonstrated going forward.
“LC Signal’s Perspective” reflects this publication’s interpretation
of the available information.