What is NASA Communications Services Project commercial relay demos (Viasat Maxwell, SES Pelican-12 payload)?

Spacecraft in low Earth orbit need a steady link to the ground to send science data and receive commands, and for over forty years NASA has relied on its TDRS relay satellites for that. NASA is now gradually retiring that fleet and moving future near-Earth science missions to commercial services, and in 2022 it awarded $278.5 million to industry through this project. Two demonstrations are Viasat's Maxwell spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab, and one from SES Space and Defense. Each will test fast links for science data and slower ones for tracking and basic commands. They launched on a SpaceX rideshare on 20 October 2026.

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