Intelsat

Recognized under Tier 7 — Interplanetary Communications, Intelsat operates a long-established global fleet of geostationary satellites and, through its Intelsat General Communications government arm, provides secure communications services to U.S. defense and civil space customers. In May 2026, Intelsat General and Viasat jointly won a $437.7 million U.S. Space Force contract under the Protected Tactical Satellite-Global (PTS-G) program to build small, agile GEO satellites with anti-jam, contested-environment capability. Intelsat has also engaged with NASA's effort to transition legacy Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) functions to commercially operated infrastructure, as the agency's current relay fleet — some spacecraft over two decades old — approaches retirement. Intelsat's decades of experience operating hardened, government-grade relay satellites positions it as a candidate provider for the next generation of Earth-based relay infrastructure that Moon and Mars missions will depend on as NASA shifts away from owning that infrastructure itself.