en.Wedoany.com Reported - AiRANACULUS, a Massachusetts-based deep tech company specializing in intelligent radio frequency and autonomous network systems, has recently secured a $5 million Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Project (CCRPP) contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop next-generation heterogeneous communication network technologies for lunar and deep space missions.
Under the contract, AiRANACULUS will enhance its Cross-Layer Spectrum-Aware Cognitive Control Plane and Intelligent Routing Engine (CLAIRE) and Intelligent Network Slicing and Policy-based Routing Engine (INSPiRE) technologies. These platforms are designed to improve performance, resilience, and adaptability in complex communication environments. The work will be carried out in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center and industry partners including NVIDIA, Nokia Federal Solutions, Dell Technologies, Curtiss-Wright, Supermicro, and Radisys, and will also encompass integration testing and spaceflight verification activities.
As NASA expands lunar exploration through the Artemis program, communication architectures must support diverse use cases such as habitats, robotic systems, rovers, autonomous vehicles, scientific payloads, mining operations, radio astronomy, lunar orbiters, and even future Mars missions. These environments require communication networks to operate across multiple network types including 4G/5G cellular, Wi-Fi, and satellite communications, as well as across various frequency bands and operating conditions.
AiRANACULUS's technology aims to make communications between lunar surface operations, lunar orbital systems, and Earth-Moon infrastructure more flexible and resilient. Its CLAIRE platform dynamically manages these networks through cross-layer awareness, adapting to changing RF environments, mitigating interference and congestion, and dynamically routing traffic to maintain critical mission Quality of Service (QoS). The INSPiRE technology extends these capabilities across heterogeneous space and ground infrastructure through intelligent network slicing and policy-driven orchestration, leveraging NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms such as the NVIDIA Aerial Testbed and NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper superchip.
Steve Vogelsang, Chief Technology Officer of Nokia Federal Solutions, stated that the company is proud to support lunar communication infrastructure development through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, noting that AiRANACULUS's CLAIRE architecture serves as a critical bridge between terrestrial 4G/5G systems, Wi-Fi, satellite communications, and Earth-Moon communications, enabling smarter delay-tolerant networking in space environments. Joseph Korff, founder of Arc Ventures, said the future of lunar exploration depends on resilient, adaptive, and interoperable communication architectures capable of supporting a wide range of missions and operating environments, and that AiRANACULUS's technology is a key building block for the lunar economy and next-generation intelligent mission-critical networks. Dr. Apurva N. Mody, founder and CEO of AiRANACULUS, noted that from resilient defense communications and interference-aware 5G systems to autonomous space networks, CLAIRE and INSPiRE represent the next evolution of intelligent communication infrastructure, and that this award validates the company's position in AI-driven self-optimizing RF and network systems, placing it at the forefront of AI-RAN innovation for lunar and deep space exploration.
This 24-month NASA CCRPP project will focus on integration testing and spaceflight demonstrations through collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center to advance the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of the CLAIRE and INSPiRE platforms.
