Laser communications supplier Mynaric signals recovery after production setbacks

WASHINGTON — German optical communications company Mynaric has delivered 84 laser terminals to York Space Systems and Northrop Grumman, marking a turnaround after a year of supply chain troubles and restructuring. The deliveries support the U.S. Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), the U.S. military’s satellite constellation designed to provide global, low-latency communications.

Of the 84 units, 42 were shipped to York Space and are already in orbit. Those terminals rode to space Sept. 10 aboard 21 York-built satellites for the first “plane” of SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer. Mynaric confirmed both York and Northrop Grumman formally accepted the hardware.

York declined to discuss specific optical suppliers, but industry observers analyzing pre-launch images identified terminals from both Mynaric and Colorado-based Skyloom Global aboard York’s spacecraft. 

Both firms are among a handful of companies certified to meet SDA’s interoperability standards — a key requirement for the agency’s mesh network concept, which relies on optical crosslinks to allow satellites from different vendors to seamlessly pass data across the constellation.

A rebound for Mynaric

The shipments reflect momentum for Mynaric after a bruising 2024, when supplier shortages of critical components stalled production and forced the company to slash its financial guidance. 

“We are currently averaging around six optical heads per week, with some weeks reaching double-digit output,” a Mynaric spokesperson told SpaceNews. “Our target remains to consistently produce double-digit optical heads each week throughout the end of the year, and we continue to scale toward that rate.”

The company builds the CONDOR Mk3 optical terminal line for satellite constellations. An upgraded CONDOR Mk3.1 model is in development for SDA’s Tranche 2 satellites, expected to begin launching in about two years.

Mynaric recently completed a major financial restructuring in Germany, clearing the way for Rocket Lab’s proposed $150 million acquisition. Rocket Lab announced plans to buy Mynaric in March but held off pending the restructuring process, which transferred ownership to German investment firm JVF-Holding.

Optical communications terminals — also called “laser links” — use tightly focused beams of light to move data between satellites or from space to the ground. Compared to traditional radio frequency links, lasers can push higher bandwidth, lower latency and improved security.

On SDA’s PWSA, interoperability is crucial: different manufacturers’ satellites must function as one cohesive network. SDA has certified multiple vendors, including Mynaric and Skyloom, to prevent single-source dependency.

Skyloom has also been ramping deliveries to York. The company said in August it completed its second batch of 44 optical terminals for SDA spacecraft. The first 44 were already integrated into York’s satellites that launched Sept. 10 and the second set is slated for a late 2025 mission.

SDA proliferated architecture depends on scaling production rapidly across dozens of contractors without being held hostage by a single vendor’s production hiccups.