Rivada 1, ..., 300

Rivada Space Networks (RSN) plans to establish a low-earth-orbit network of 600 Ka-band communications satellites, which will provide fiber-like low latency and gigabit per second data delivery which is ultra-secure and extremely resilient. The network will target telecoms, enterprise, maritime, energy and government services markets

In early 2023 Rivada signed a $2.4 billion contract with Terran Orbital’s wholly owned subsidiary Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. to design, build, and deploy 288 low-earth orbit satellites for Rivada Space Networks. As part of the contract, Terran Orbital will also develop 12 ground spare satellites to produce a total of 300 spacecraft. Terran Orbital, through its subsidiary Tyvak, will act as the prime contractor to design and manufacture the approximately 500 kg satellites, integrate the communication payload, and perform the final satellite assembly, integration, and test. The contract includes an option for Terran Orbital to build the remaining spacecraft needed to complete the constellation.

The satellites will feature a regenerative high-throughput Ka-band communications payload with an intelligent on-board router to support differentiated QoS and optimal path finding. It uses active phased array antennas to allow active multi-beam management allowing for reconfigurable coverage and variable radiated power. Each satellite carries four laser communication terminals for inter-satellite connections.

The satellites will operate in 1050 km near-polar low-earth orbits in 24 orbital planes.

Also in eary 2023, Rivada contracted with SpaceX for 12 launches, which likely will carry 24 satellites each.

With a contract for manufacturing and launch in place by early 2023, deployment will start in 2025, with 300 satellites in orbit by mid-2026 and full constellation deployment expected by mid-2028.

Note: The actual name of the satellites has not been announced yet. For the time being, they are refered by "Rivada" on this website.