Cascade Space: The Future of Deep Space Communications-as-a-Service

Cascade Space is a next-generation deep space communications company delivering "communications-as-a-service" for lunar and deep space missions. Founded in 2025 by aerospace veterans Jacob Portukalian and Arlen Abraham, the company offers a turnkey solution for space agencies and commercial space ventures that need reliable, scalable, and efficient communication infrastructure beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).

The motivation behind Cascade’s launch is clear: NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the backbone of traditional deep space communications, is currently oversubscribed by 40% and largely inaccessible to private companies. For new space startups and missions headed to the Moon and beyond, this creates a bottleneck that threatens innovation and reliability. Cascade aims to solve this by building a flexible, scalable network of ground stations backed by robust software, offering a plug-and-play solution that drastically reduces spacecraft iteration cycles from weeks to mere hours.

Why is the current approach to deep space communications unsustainable?

The traditional approach to spacecraft communications is riddled with inefficiencies. Commercial players must negotiate directly with disparate ground station operators, each with their own hardware specs, interfaces, and quirks. This patchwork setup forces engineers to devote hundreds of hours to manually comparing datasheets, emailing operators, and compiling everything into spreadsheets—an error-prone and outdated process.

More critically, many spacecraft systems are launched without ever completing an end-to-end validation with their ground stations. Hardware incompatibilities and configuration errors often go unnoticed until the vehicle is already in flight, at which point it's too late to fix them. The result? Communication failures, partial mission success, or even total mission loss.

Cascade sees this as a systemic flaw. If humanity wants to become a truly spacefaring civilization, then communicating with spacecraft should be as simple and reliable as accessing high-speed internet on Earth.

How does Cascade Space transform spacecraft design and testing?

Cascade is tackling the problem at its root: the design phase. The company has developed a modern software platform that replaces spreadsheets with real-time simulations. Engineers can model how a spacecraft’s communication system will perform across Cascade’s ground station network before they even begin building the satellite.

This forward-thinking approach is complemented by a unique hardware offering: the "ground station in a box." This kit mirrors the exact hardware installed in Cascade’s real-world stations, enabling spacecraft teams to conduct full, integrated system tests with both the satellite and ground terminal in the loop. The result is dramatically improved test fidelity and a radical reduction in design risk.

In a field where "test as you fly, fly as you test" is more aspirational than actual, Cascade brings it to life.

What makes Cascade’s communications network different?

Cascade’s network is being built to scale quickly and cost-effectively. Instead of starting from scratch, the company partners with dish owners whose infrastructure is underutilized or idle. These dishes are upgraded and integrated into Cascade’s system, rapidly expanding the company’s footprint with minimal capital investment.

As demand grows, Cascade will strategically deploy its own ground stations, starting with downlink-only terminals expected to go online in 2025, followed by more comprehensive installations in 2026 and beyond. This hybrid model—leveraging both partnerships and owned infrastructure—enables rapid deployment while maintaining control over quality and uptime.

Unlike legacy systems, Cascade’s network is also API-first. Customers can schedule satellite passes, stream telemetry data, and monitor ground site performance directly through software, turning mission control into a modern, cloud-connected experience.

Who is behind Cascade Space, and what expertise do they bring?

Cascade’s founding team combines deep technical experience with real-world mission operations knowledge. Jacob Portukalian, a veteran RF systems architect, previously worked at SpaceX, Tyvak, and Astra. He has built and maintained communications infrastructure for some of the most ambitious space missions in history. His co-founder, Arlen Abraham, brings a cross-disciplinary mindset from a career spanning aerospace, consumer electronics, energy, and telecom. He specializes in integrating complex systems across hardware, software, product, and business.

Together, they have spent hundreds of hours inside mission control rooms, responding to anomalies and guiding spacecraft through difficult moments. Their experience has made them intimately familiar with the pitfalls of the current approach to comms—and uniquely qualified to solve them.

At Cascade, they are building more than a company. They are cultivating a culture of technical rigor, operational excellence, and deep respect for the mission-critical nature of their customers’ work.

Why is now the right time for a new deep space communications standard?

The space industry is undergoing a seismic shift. What was once the exclusive domain of government agencies is now being democratized by commercial ventures. From lunar landers to asteroid mining startups, the next generation of space exploration demands reliable, scalable communications—and it needs them now.

Yet the underlying infrastructure hasn’t caught up. The DSN is straining under the weight of NASA’s own needs, let alone the rising tide of commercial missions. Without a scalable alternative, the risk of mission failure rises exponentially.

Cascade's timing is impeccable. By offering a communications infrastructure that’s purpose-built for the needs of today’s space startups—and those of tomorrow—it’s helping ensure that the future of space exploration doesn’t stall before it begins.

How does Cascade Space enable mission confidence and long-term success?

Space missions are complex and expensive endeavors where communication failure often equals mission failure. Cascade’s offering is engineered to give mission teams peace of mind. The hardware, software, and network are all designed to work seamlessly together, reducing integration friction and operational risks.

More importantly, Cascade is building the foundation for a new era of transparency and reliability in space communications. Their software tools allow teams to simulate link performance, test their systems in real-time, and monitor operations with full visibility. It’s a modern approach for a modern era of spaceflight—where confidence comes not just from specs, but from systems that have been tested thoroughly, operated easily, and scaled intelligently.

What lies ahead for Cascade Space?

With its first stations coming online in 2025 and a growing customer base of lunar and deep space missions, Cascade is just getting started. The company’s long-term vision is to make deep space communication so seamless and accessible that it becomes a non-issue, just like Wi-Fi on Earth.

As demand for off-world connectivity continues to rise, Cascade’s hybrid approach to network building, its commitment to software excellence, and its obsessive focus on mission success position it as a foundational layer of the next space age.

Jacob and Arlen aren’t just fixing what’s broken. They’re redefining what’s possible.