AiRANACULUS, a Massachusetts-based deep technology company, has been awarded a $5 million Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program (CCRPP) contract from NASA to develop autonomous space networking systems.
The contract will support the advancement of next-generation heterogeneous communication networks designed for lunar and deep-space mission environments.
AiRANACULUS will work alongside NASA Ames Research Center and a consortium of industry partners including Nokia Federal Solutions, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), Dell Technologies (NASDAQ: DELL), Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW), Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), and Radisys.
The 24-month program will focus on advancing the Technology Readiness Level and Manufacturing Readiness Level of two core AiRANACULUS platforms through integrated testing and spaceflight demonstrations.
Those platforms are CLAIRE, a Cross Layer Spectrum Aware Cognitive Control Plane and Intelligent Routing Engine, and INSPiRE, an Intelligent Network Slicing and Policy-based Routing Engine.
CLAIRE is designed to dynamically manage complex networks by cross-layer sensing, adapting to changing RF environments, mitigating interference and congestion, and maintaining mission-critical Quality of Service.
INSPiRE extends those capabilities through intelligent network slicing and policy-driven orchestration, leveraging NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms including the NVIDIA Aerial Testbed and NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip.
As NASA’s Artemis program expands lunar exploration, communications infrastructure must support habitats, rovers, robotic systems, autonomous vehicles, science payloads, mining operations, radio astronomy, lunar orbiters, and future Mars missions.
Steve Vogelsang, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia Federal Solutions, highlighted the significance of the partnership, stating: “AiRANACULUS’ CLAIRE architecture creates an important bridge between terrestrial 4G/5G systems, Wi-Fi, SATCOM, and cislunar communications while enabling more intelligent Delay Tolerant Networking across space environments.”
Joseph Korff, Founder of Arc Ventures, an investor in AiRANACULUS, said: “AiRANACULUS’ technology represents an important building block for the future of lunar and space networking, and Arc Ventures has proudly invested in AiRANACULUS to build the foundation to support the Lunar economy and the next generation of intelligent, mission-critical networks.”
Dr. Apurva N. Mody, Founder and CEO of AiRANACULUS, said: “This award validates our leadership for AI-driven, self-optimizing RF and networking systems and positions AiRANACULUS at the forefront of AI-RAN innovation for lunar and deep-space exploration.”
AiRANACULUS has secured more than $25 million in government contracts to date and holds a growing intellectual property portfolio comprising 7 granted patents and 58 international patents pending.
The company is backed by investors including Arc Ventures, Arka Venture Labs, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York, ECoast Angels, Charlotte Angels, and Casabona Ventures.
