ARLINGTON, Va. — When 21 Lockheed Martin satellites for the Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer Tranche 1 launched Oct. 15, each carried three laser communication terminals instead of the planned four, reflecting a shortfall in the supply of optical crosslink hardware.
The satellites rely on optical communications terminals, or OCTs, to exchange data via laser links, forming the mesh network at the core of SDA's architecture. With fewer terminals on board, the spacecraft can still operate but with reduced crosslink capacity and less flexibility in routing data across the constellation.
"We did launch one plane with three OCTs. They were supposed to have four, but we can do four in the next one," Sandhoo said.
