LeafLabs Enables Satellite Launch

Working with the Space Development Agency, Scientific Systems Company Inc., and others, company rapidly delivers software for YAM-3 satellite mission to gather critical data and intelligence.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 14, 2021 – LeafLabs, an engineering consulting firm focused on solving the world’s most complex problems, today announced the culmination of a year-long project to build software for YAM-3 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 with government and industry partners, to gather data on optical communication terminal (OCT) performance in low-Earth orbit (LEO), along with the POET payload to demonstrate on-orbit data fusion, proving out core capabilities required for SDA’s future development efforts.

Once on-orbit, POET will demonstrate integration of a third-party multiple intelligence (multi-INT) data fusion software application in a LEO satellite modular and upgradeable mission software suite running in an edge-processor that is representative of what is planned for the National Defense Space Architecture’s (NDSA) Tranche 0 constellation.

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 in 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.”