Australia’s EOS Acquires US Satellite Coms Business

Recently, Australian-based EOS has completed acquisition of Audacy Corporation, a U.S. satellite communications business.

EOS has wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, EOS Defense Systems USA (EOSDS) and the acquisition will be part of the build out of the company’s production facility at Huntsville, Alabama.

In our 2018  interview of Dr. Greene, the head of EOS, he highlighted his own and his company’s long standing engagement in U.S. space efforts.

Question: Let us turn now to the space side of your business. Could you describe the focus of your payload business in this domain?

Dr. Greene: We have built core capabilities to enhance situational awareness in space. We irradiate certain areas of space with lasers, and we then analyze the reflected returns.

We can determine range from that. We can also determine other elements of the spacecraft from a light signal directed at that spacecraft.

We have been in this business area for 40 years.

An article by Stephen Kuper published on June 3, 2020 quoted Dr. Greene on the acquisition and added additional information on the acquisition and its impact.

Dr Ben Greene, group CEO of EOS, welcomed the announcement of the acquisition in late January 2020, saying, “EOS has previously disclosed its intention to enter the space communications market, and the acquisition represents a logical next step towards that goal.”

The acquisition was completed on 28 May 2020. EOS will now move forward to deploy communication satellites in a constellation that EOS has named EOSLink.

The EOS strategic approach to space communications is based on the widely-held industry view that optical communications, where EOS has very advanced technology and strong capabilities, will carry the majority of space communication traffic by 2036.

EOS has established a space communications business with advanced technologies for both microwave and optical laser communications. In the long term, EOS expects most space-based communications to be implemented with optical communications – widely considered a disruptive technology that is not regulated or controlled because it does not interfere with other users. 

Greene added at the time, “Over 50 potential customers have executed non-binding memoranda of understanding relating to the proposed space communications service, and EOS expects to finalise the initial constellation design soon so that those MoU can be progressively converted to service contracts after completion.

“The company will face challenges building and launching a new constellation of MEO satellites by June 2024. Therefore, satellite capacity and the related funding requirements will be scaled to meet regulatory and customer commitments. EOS will later decide whether to implement the new satellite constellation on its own or through a partnership with an existing space communications entity.”

An Australian colleague highlighted in the importance of this capability evolution was for the Australian forces as well. 

“This has interesting applications for the Kill Web especially if you look forward to optical comms.

“EM solutions already has a great mobile terminal for all RF comms and if you develop a hybrid RF/Optical system your bandwidth increases significantly.

“It means that you can control UGVs at strength from remote locations as well as feed ships with all the data that they need.”