Bard is one of five missions York plans to launch this year, reinforcing its leadership in providing spacecraft for government, civil, and commercial customers. The mission reflects York's expanding role as a key enabler of national space infrastructure, offering rapid, scalable solutions for both operational systems and experimental technologies.
The Bard mission is built on York's proven spacecraft platform and will demonstrate the power of wideband polylingual terminals. These systems utilize software-defined radios capable of dynamically switching across multiple frequency bands, protocols, and relay networks.
The mission's on-orbit demonstration phase is set to conclude in April 2026, aiming to validate seamless communication with NASA's legacy Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), various commercial networks, and direct-to-Earth links. This capability marks a crucial step in NASA's transition to commercial relay services, projected to be fully operational by 2031.
"Bard is yet another proof point that York continues to deliver a full spectrum of missions and customers-from high-performance constellations to critical pathfinder demonstrations," said Melanie Preisser, GM and Executive VP of York. "This is just another example of how York has become the provider of choice for deploying next-generation capabilities with the speed, scale, and operational readiness that customers demand."
The Bard mission also highlights York's innovative approach to mission operations. The spacecraft will be managed through the company's secure, cloud-based Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC), demonstrating the ability to support real-time command and control for multiple missions from a single, autonomous infrastructure.
Related Links
York Space Systems
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com
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