Mercury Systems has been granted a production contract from BlueHalo to provide signal processing technology for BlueHalo’s digital beaming platform. This platform is being developed for the U.S. Space Force’s Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource program. Mercury Systems will produce a field-programmable gate array-based common signal acquisition and digital beamforming tool for BlueHalo’s BADGER technology, which is a transportable ground-based communications system that uses reconfigurable beamforming tiles to simplify space operations.
Jonathan Moneymaker, CEO of BlueHalo and a previous Wash100 Award winner, stated that this agreement marks BADGER’s first entry into the high-rate manufacturing phase. He emphasized that each milestone achieved in the SCAR program ensures the nation will maintain its strategic advantage in space. Moneymaker highlighted that Mercury’s signal processing hardware plays a crucial role in BADGER’s exceptional performance.
This partnership between Mercury Systems and BlueHalo follows BlueHalo’s successful demonstration of integrated backend mission services for the SCAR program at the 2024 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April. In May 2022, BlueHalo was awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the Space Rapid Capabilities Office to develop a satellite operations capability for the Space Force.