Sat Oct 12 02:40:00 UTC 2024: ## Northwood Space Successfully Tests Ground Station Technology, Aiming to Revolutionize Satellite Connectivity
**El Segundo, California** – Northwood Space, a startup founded by former actress and singer Bridgit Mendler, has successfully completed its first major development test by connecting with Planet Labs’ imagery satellites in orbit. This achievement marks a significant step forward for the company, which is focused on building a global network of ground stations to facilitate data transmission for satellites.
Northwood’s innovative approach centers around its phased array-based system, dubbed “Portal”, which aims to outperform traditional parabolic dish antennas used by ground station companies. Portal promises to connect to up to 10 satellites simultaneously, compared to the typical one to three achievable with existing technology.
“We’re building this global network to send data for satellites, built off of phased array technology that we have now successfully validated, both in the lab and in the field,” said Mendler, CEO of Northwood.
The company’s technology is poised to disrupt the burgeoning “ground station as a service” (GSaaS) market, where companies are vying for control over the Earth-based infrastructure supporting space operations. Amazon’s AWS Ground Station and satellite communications giant Eutelsat are among those already making significant investments in the sector.
“For Northwood, what we’re wanting to do is introduce a new standard for connectivity for companies,” Mendler explained.
Northwood’s ground station prototype, nicknamed “Frankie”, was successfully deployed in a remote location in Maddock, North Dakota, and established bi-directional communication with a Planet satellite in both S-band and X-band frequencies. The company achieved its goals within a tight timeframe, designing and building Frankie in just four months and completing its deployment and testing within six hours.
Planet, with its fleet of over 150 imagery satellites, recognized Northwood’s accomplishment as a major milestone in ground station technology. “Northwood is not only solving for historical issues like cost and scale, but has built and successfully field-tested their phased array antenna faster than previously thought possible,” said Joseph Breu, Planet’s senior director of global ground networks.
Looking ahead, Northwood plans to deploy its Portal sites, capable of supporting up to 10 simultaneous satellite connections with data rates exceeding 1 gigabit per second per beam, beginning next year. They are currently evaluating potential locations in the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand for their initial Portal sites.
“Performance-wise, we achieved everything we were hoping to achieve,” Mendler said, expressing gratitude for Planet’s collaboration and support throughout the testing process. “It just unlocks a lot of things about the next chapter.”
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