Part 4 in a series on orbital communications
Spacecraft today operate in an environment defined by two accelerating forces: the explosive growth of satellites in orbit, and the rapid evolution of cyber threats targeting them. As missions become more autonomous, networked, and interdependent, the need for strong, adaptable security has moved from a supporting feature to an operational requirement.
Viasat’s answer is a new generation of reprogrammable space cryptography—a system designed to secure every layer of HaloNet’s communications infrastructure. While previous articles in this series explored how HaloNet delivers continuity (launch telemetry) and flexibility (hybrid terminals), this article turns to the capability that makes all of those functions trustworthy: encryption.
“This is the part of HaloNet that protects everything else,” said James Kohler, Business Director, Mission Connections and Cybersecurity (MC2) at Viasat. “Crypto is the skin — it defends the system from the outside in.”
Solving the Space Crypto Problem
Traditional space encryption is rigid. Systems are built around application-specific cryptographic engines—fixed logic, which cannot be easily updated once launched. That approach made sense when satellites were few, lifetimes were long, and threats evolved slowly.
“What has changed is the speed,” Kohler said. “Threats are advancing faster than the certification cycles of traditional crypto. We need an architecture that can keep up.”
Viasat’s solution is a reprogrammable, space-qualified cryptographic engine, which has the ability to update algorithms, to upload quantum-resistant protections, and to adapt to new mission requirements without replacing hardware.
“We’ve shown it’s viable to run reprogrammable crypto in space,” Kohler said. “That’s the breakthrough. You can push new functions and new protections over time, instead of living with whatever you launched.”
HaloNet’s space crypto solution can encrypt:
- Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TT&C);
- TRANSEC (protecting the waveform itself);
- Mission data across S-, L-, Ka-, and optical links.
“We built it so the crypto doesn’t care what network you’re using,” Kohler said. “It’s network-agnostic. As long as the link meets the performance requirements, we can secure it.”
The Innovation Behind Reprogrammability
Kohler credits lessons from the Viasat-3 satellite for enabling this new approach to space crypto. “We learned how to make reprogrammable hardware robust enough for space,” he said, describing secure-boot processes, shielding, and redundancy techniques that allow for updates without compromising the device.
The result is a crypto platform designed for a future that includes not just evolving algorithms, but quantum-resistant cryptography.
“We’re building something that can grow into the next generation of crypto,” Kohler said. “Quantum resistance, new protocols, new missions—we can add them. We’re not locked in.”
Today’s orbital environment is shaped by proliferated LEO and multi-satellite formations. These missions require encryption that is:
- Low-SWaP;
- High-throughput;
- Easy to integrate;
- Upgradeable for many years.
That is where systems like Viasat’s Reprogrammable Space Crypto module fit.
“We built this module to be the start of a family,” Kohler said. “Today, it fits small satellites. Tomorrow you’ll see 10 Gb and 100 Gb versions that can secure the really high-capacity links.”
Viasat’s Type 1 Encryption heritage is foundational, but Kohler stresses agility just as much as certification. “Our customers are flying dozens or hundreds of spacecraft,” he said. “They can’t wait years for a completely new crypto system to go through certification. Reprogrammability solves that gap.”
Interoperability in a Multi-Network Environment
Missions are increasingly depending on distributed network architectures operated by different companies and partners. That newer approach raises important questions about secure interoperability.
“We don’t have a single standard yet for multi-vendor interoperability,” Kohler said. “But reprogrammable crypto gets us much closer because you can adapt your keys, your algorithms, and your protocols as needed.”
This approach positions Viasat to secure traffic across a range of commercial networks, whenever mission requirements call for it.
“That’s the future,” Kohler said. “Constellations are talking across networks and operators, regardless of orbit.”
Future-Proof Security
As HaloNet evolves toward a world where spacecraft share data, coordinate activities, and operate with increasing autonomy, the role of cryptography becomes critical.
Kohler sees this not as a single system, but as the beginning of a multi-decade evolution.
“Space is changing fast,” he said. “We’re giving operators a crypto platform that can change with it. That’s the goal—to future-proof security for missions that won’t look anything like the ones we flew ten years ago.”
For HaloNet, space crypto is essential for everything else—continuous launch connectivity, hybrid terminal communications, seamless orchestration—to operate with trust in increasingly connected and contested orbits.
Demonstrators Are No Longer Optional — They’re How Programs Stay on Track
For decades, aerospace and defense programs followed a familiar pattern: define requirements, finalize designs, then validate at the end of the process. That model assumed time was available to manage surprises.
Viasat’s HaloNet: Building the Bridge to a More Connected Orbit
In today’s rapidly proliferating orbital environment, spacecraft are only as capable as their ability to stay connected. Traditional communications architectures—built around scheduled ground passes and line-of-sight links—can’t keep pace with the speed and complexity of modern missions.Viasat’s HaloNet hybrid terminal aims to change that by unifying multiple communications pathways into one adaptive system, designed to keep satellites in constant contact—from launch, through orbit.
Viasat’s HaloNet: Eliminating Launch Telemetry Blackouts
For decades, space launch providers have faced the same persistent challenge: intermittent loss of telemetry data when rockets travel out of range of ground stations. These “blackouts” can last for minutes—leaving long and critical periods when vehicle health, performance, and safety information go dark. Viasat’s HaloNet Launch Telemetry Data Relay Service (DRS)aims to change that, by providing continuous, global coverage from ascent through early orbit.
Space Missions Are Getting More Complex – Ops Software Must Keep Up
As space missions evolve beyond single-satellite deployments to multi-vehicle constellations, in-space servicing, and lunar exploration, the operational burden placed on engineering teams has grown exponentially. With that shift comes a new imperative: Mission operations software must be as advanced and agile as the hardware it supports.
AUSTIN, TX—Two days. Nine panels. Two dozen speakers—and that’s just the space content.
This year’s Tectonic Defense Summit was bigger and better than ever, and Payload was thrilled to join the fun with the inaugural Payload Space Stage. Before we sign off and sleep all weekend, we want to share with y’all some of our top takeaways from our natsec space track at the defense tech event.
Let it grow: Gary Calnan, the CEO of CisLunar Industries, announced the closing of the lunar infrastructure startup’s seed round at the event. While he didn’t yet share the value of the round, he did talk about how it’s a major step for the company to begin production.
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