Earlier this week, Rivada Space Networks announced that Aalyria will help manage and optimize communications across its planned LEO constellation. Aalyria emerged out of stealth late last year, with a trove of valuable IP it acquired from Google parent Alphabet.
Rivada 101
Last year, Rivada announced itself to the world with a splashy plan to build a networked 600-satellite constellation for enterprise and government users. The constellation will be connected via laser links and carry onboard data routers.
- Its greatest asset: spectrum rights to a high-priority, 4,000 MHz region of Ka-band acquired from Liechtenstein company Trion Space.
- Its greatest challenge: a race against the clock, as these spectrum rights granted by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) are set to expire in mid-2026 if half of the planned constellation doesn’t get to orbit.
Rivada’s spectrum rights, secured in 2014, have a higher-priority designation than the broadband megaconstellations taking over LEO (Starlink, and eventually, Kuiper). If ever a conflict arises in determining who gets to send its data first, Rivada’s rights win out, ensuring its services remain efficient and resilient as competition and congestion grow.
With the 2026 deployment deadline fast approaching, Rivada has its head down on nailing down the pieces it needs to get its constellation built. The company has secured financing and 12 SpaceX launches to get the birds up. Recently, Rivada awarded Terran Orbital ($LLAP) a $2.4B contract to manufacture the first 300 satellites.
Back to Aalyria
The Alphabet brainchild says that it’s built a system that can efficiently chart a path for data to travel across a constellation at scale. Aalyria has two core products:
- Spacetime, a smart software system for orchestrating networks of ground stations, aircraft, satellites, vessels, and urban meshes.
- Tightbeam, an advanced laser communication terminal for ground-to-space, terrestrial, and airborne applications.
“We built Spacetime to dynamically route communications across anything that flies or moves, on Earth or in space, to expand connectivity to people, places and things that were previously thought unconnectable,” Aalyria CEO Chris Taylor said in a statement.
Under this agreement, Rivada will use Spacetime in its constellation to keep data moving as quickly as possible across the mesh network.
+ For more on Aalyria, check out Pathfinder #0018 with CTO Brian Barritt.
