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NASA’s Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT), launched to enable interoperability between satellite relay networks, has completed its planned demonstration phase.
And given its success and technical flexibility, PExT will continue operations to pursue new partnership opportunities and additional capability demonstrations, a June 1 space agency update says.
Launched in 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base into a high-inclination low Earth orbit aboard a York Space Systems’ BARD spacecraft, PExT has demonstrated that a Ka-band wideband spectrum communications technology can enable space missions to relay across government and commercial networks.
The effort is intended to enable NASA to turn to commercial providers for all near-Earth communications relay services.
Satellite communications have previously been restricted to a single network. A partnership between the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program, PExT has enabled data transfers across multiple commercial and government satellite systems.
The demonstration mission achieved its primary objectives in December 2025 with data transmissions successfully sent to Earth through NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system, as well as commercial satellite networks operated by Viasat and SES Space and Defense.
Extended PExT operations that got underway in January are slated to continue through April 2027, the update says.
Future operations are to include demonstrating direct-to-Earth forward and return links using SSC Space’s global ground station network, including 50 direct links to Earth using SSC Space’s partner ground station in Weilheim, Germany.
“These demonstrations show how missions can flexibly route data, either through relay satellites or directly to ground stations, to improve resilience, coverage, and operational efficiency,” the NASA mission update says.
NASA is also concurrently partnering with Aalyria Technologies to demonstrate what the agency referred to as enterprise service operations using Aalyria’s Spacetime software for a coordinated approach to planning, managing and providing communications support for multiple missions through a shared software framework.
“Through this effort, NASA will demonstrate how these frameworks can streamline operations, improve service visibility, and ensure missions receive reliable communications support throughout their life cycle,” the NASA update says.
The efforts build on several years of collaboration between the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit and Aalyria under the Hybrid Space Architecture program, a U.S. Department of Defense undertaking to establish a more connected, resilient and interoperable space networking ecosystem intended to enable government and commercial satellite systems to operate seamlessly together.
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