Space Signal Infrastructure

Northrop Grumman has chosen [Mynaric as their “strategic supplier” of space laser communications](https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-selects-mynaric-as-strategic-supplier-of-space-laser-communications/). In exchange for assured and preferred access to Mynaric laser communications hardware, Northrop Grumman promises to purchases $35 million worth of merchandise at a minimum over the next 5 years. The partnership also folds existing Mynaric and Northrop Grumman research and development groups on laser communications into joint hardware development efforts. Mynaric has steadily been making inroads to the Defense and Government space, having been selected for DARPA’s Blackjack program’s optical communications hardware earlier this year.

Given the sensitive nature of the hardware, it makes sense from a security standpoint to reduce surface area for supply chain attacks and converge all security efforts towards one supplier of laser communications hardware across all government projects. The joint nature of the development work as a result of the exclusivity of the partnership means the customer can more easily verify, and have a hand in designing, security requirements for the systems. The space signal infrastructure of laser communications is the primary target for a rogue satellite actor to go after – which means the primary actors would be those with satellites already at orbits that can point towards the target satellite, such as other states.