Apolink makes first contact with its relay demo satellite
Apolink
Per SpaceNews, Apolink's IPoS-TDsM cubesat launched on Transporter-17 and is now relaying signals on an experimental FCC S-band license.
what happened
Per SpaceNews, Apolink established contact with IPoS-TDsM, a 3U cubesat technology demonstrator, after it launched on SpaceX's Transporter-17 rideshare mission July 7. The satellite operates on S-band under an FCC experimental license and is designed to relay signals between other satellites and the ground at line-of-sight ranges up to about 150 km, acting as a transparent relay layer. Apolink CEO Onkar Batra said the FCC license is a first-of-its-kind grant for S-band inter-satellite link operations. Apolink's RF subsystem was built by GomSpace, and the company is also partnered with Singapore's NuSpace and Canada's Galaxia.
why it matters
Apolink is one of several early-stage entrants (alongside Space Compass, Cognitive Space's relay plans, and others) chasing the same problem SpaceX's Starlink backhaul and TDRS-style relays solve for their own operators: closing the coverage gaps that leave LEO satellites unable to downlink outside ground-station passes. A working experimental license and a live first-contact milestone move Apolink from slide-deck to on-orbit proof, worth tracking for operators evaluating third-party relay versus building their own crosslinks.
for who
LEO satellite operators evaluating relay/backhaul options
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Apolink
- Category
- constellation
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 3 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-07
- Published
- 2026-07-07 20:25 UTC