LeafLabs Enables Satellite Launch

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LeafLabs, an engineering consulting firm focused on solving the world’s most complex problems, announced the culmination of a year-long project to build software for Mandrake II and Laser Interconnect Networking Communications System, (LINCS) and the Prototype On-orbit Experimental Testbed (POET) payload, the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) satellite mission that launched into space on June 30, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.

The launch, supported by SpaceX’s Transporter 2, an all-rideshare Falcon 9 mission, carried aboard SDA’s first two sets of experimental satellites, designed and built by organizations including LeafLabs, to gather data on optical communication terminal (OCT) performance in low-Earth orbit. Optical links between space, air, and ground assets offer significantly higher data rates and lower latency when compared to conventional radio frequency links, and demonstrate a pathway of getting real-time data for critical operations.

LeafLabs was integral to the development of POET, the satellite operating system, and built other utilities for secure and reliable software upgrades in flight, and components that will facilitate communication both in flight and on the ground. Additionally, LeafLabs provided debugging reliability and overall performance support for the project.

“I am so proud of the LeafLabs’ team that was instrumental is getting a satellite into space,” said Andrew Meyer, company founder and CEO. “As a company, our commitment to clients is to solve complex problems that save time and money. This launch is another example of the ways in which we are delivering on our promise."