NASA Demonstrates a First-of-Its-Kind Space Communications

NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, have successfully tested wideband technology that allows spacecraft to communicate with both government and commercial networks for the first time.

Launched July 23, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission, the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) is demonstrating multilingual wideband terminal technology. Hosted on a satellite from York Space Systems, PExT enhances a spacecraft's communications subsystem, enabling mission controllers to track and exchange data more efficiently across a broad range of networks and frequencies.