Farcast completes antenna demo for Telesat Lightspeed terminal
Telesat · Farcast
Farcast validated its electronically steered antenna over Telesat's LEO 3 test satellite, a step toward a Lightspeed user terminal.
what happened
Farcast completed a collaborative technology demonstration program with Telesat, validating its electronically steered antenna (ESA) technology in an over-the-air test using Telesat's LEO 3 test satellite, per Telesat's own release. The companies said Farcast established and maintained end-to-end satellite connectivity through a shared-aperture user terminal, with measured performance closely matching predicted link budgets. The work builds on Telesat's prior US$5 million investment in Farcast and moves next to developing a fully integrated terminal combining Farcast's antenna with Telesat Lightspeed's modem.
why it matters
A validated low-cost, low-SWaP antenna architecture is a building block for Lightspeed ground terminals; this milestone alone doesn't yet produce a shippable product, but it de-risks a terminal-cost problem that affects Lightspeed's competitiveness against Starlink and OneWeb ground equipment.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Telesat, Farcast
- Category
- product
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-09-02
- Published
- 2026-09-02 17:30 UTC