Northwood Space Introduces High-Throughput Infrastructure for Modern Space Missions - Prism

Northwood Space, taking space missions further faster, led by Bridgit Mendler, Griffin Cleverly, Shaurya Luthra, and the team, has introduced high-throughput infrastructure for modern space missions - Prism.

Expanding Space Data Infrastructure.

Space communications infrastructure was built for an era when satellite traffic was limited, mission requirements were narrow, and data volumes were relatively small. Today's space economy operates under very different conditions. Growing satellite constellations across low, medium, and geostationary Earth orbit are generating unprecedented volumes of data while supporting increasingly sophisticated applications.

Modern spacecraft are enabling real-time Earth observation, global connectivity, autonomous systems, and emerging AI-powered workloads that demand significantly greater network capacity. As mission complexity grows, existing infrastructure is being pushed beyond the scale it was originally designed to support.

To address this shift, the company is expanding its network to support high-throughput data transfer, orbital computing workloads, and large-scale device connectivity. The network currently operates across five sites on two continents, with plans to expand to more than a dozen globally distributed sites by the end of the year. Further growth through 2027 and 2028 is expected to significantly increase both network capacity and geographic coverage, creating infrastructure capable of supporting the next generation of data-intensive space applications.

Building the Internet for Space.

As satellite deployments increase, maximizing asset utilization has become critical. Satellites generate value only when data is continuously moving through them, while underutilized capacity represents capital that remains idle. Similar challenges exist on the ground, where operators often overbuild infrastructure to compensate for reliability constraints, increasing costs and reducing efficiency.

Northwood is addressing this challenge through a shared, software-defined network designed to support a wide range of missions without requiring dedicated infrastructure for each deployment. By matching network resources to mission requirements and enabling infrastructure sharing across customers, the platform aims to improve utilization and lower the cost of moving data from space to Earth.

The result is a network built for the demands of modern space applications, delivering higher throughput, greater reliability, and the performance required for next-generation satellite constellations, orbital computing, and data-intensive missions.

Introducing Prism.

Northwood’s antenna portfolio now includes two complementary systems designed for different mission requirements. Portal, the company’s modular phased-array platform, is built for spacecraft mobility, coordination, and command-and-control operations. Prism is designed for high-volume data delivery, providing the throughput and resilience needed to support modern satellite missions across a wide range of orbital and environmental conditions.

Prism leverages technology originally developed for Portal, combining antenna units to achieve the power levels required for high-capacity communications. Its standardized design enables rapid manufacturing and deployment, allowing Northwood to scale network capacity efficiently.

Both systems are manufactured at Northwood’s facility in Torrance and operate on software and firmware developed in-house. This vertically integrated approach enables rapid iteration across hardware and software, while Northwood’s networking platform coordinates scheduling, traffic routing, asset monitoring, and antenna operations across the broader network, creating a unified architecture for space communications.

What Comes Next.

Northwood is pursuing a long-term vision of building the space equivalent of a terrestrial internet exchange. By 2028, the company expects its network to reach aggregate throughput capacity exceeding 20 Tbps, comparable to some of the world’s largest internet exchange hubs.

Achieving that scale would create a communications backbone capable of supporting the rapidly growing demands of satellite constellations, orbital computing, and data-intensive space applications. While terrestrial internet exchanges took decades to develop, Northwood aims to build a similar foundation for the space economy within a matter of years.