Enable breadcrumbs token at /includes/pageheader.html.twig

New Prototype Supports the Space Force's Commercial Space Strategy

Space Systems Command advances its antenna services with TREx.

The TREx service connects satellite operations centers to commercial and government-owned antennas. Credit: Best_Seller-stock.adobe.com generated with AI

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) collaborated with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the Space Development Agency to showcase the Joint Antenna Marketplace transfer of the NRL’s Transmit/Receive Enterprise (TREx) Service from a research and development project into an operational Space Force prototype, the SSC announced Tuesday in a press release.

TREx, the release said, was developed by the NRL’s Naval Center for Space Technology to connect satellite operations centers to commercial and government-owned antennas. And the Joint Antenna Marketplace is a secure cloud-based marketplace that aims to make the same connection between the centers and antennas by reducing network congestion and scheduling conflicts, enabling new missions and strengthening joint and coalition interoperability.

During the demonstration in August, the team used commercial antennas for real-time contacts between a Space Development Agency satellite operations center and Tranche 0 satellites using the newly integrated TREx system.

According to the release, the TREx integration helps the Joint Antenna Marketplace support the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 capabilities while enabling real-time contacts with Tranche 0 satellites, which demonstrate low-latency data transport, beyond-line-of-sight targeting and advanced missile warning and tracking from low-Earth orbit.

“This is exactly the type of lab-to-operations success we strive for,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Patrick Little, SYD 85 Space Access & Networked Services System program director. “The TREx system brings enhanced flexibility and efficiency to our antenna services, directly supporting our mission to deliver integrated, resilient capabilities to the field.”

The TREx system prototype has met its success criteria and is now eligible for follow-on production under the SCC’s rapid acquisition strategy. The prototype and integration with the Joint Antenna Marketplace will help operators leverage commercial systems for robust and scalable communications and data delivery, the release said.

“This effort demonstrates how early coordination and shared vision can accelerate the delivery of critical capabilities to our national security space enterprise,” said Brian Cassidy, the NRL program manager for TREx.