Areas of Industry Expertise

Since 2002, Alethium Corp. has delivered mission-critical software and systems engineering to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a direct prime contractor. Our expertise is concentrated where reliability is non-negotiable: the satellite ground systems that command spacecraft, process telemetry, and keep multi-decade missions running. As a veteran-owned small business based in Coronado, California, we combine deep engineering depth with the program discipline that federal work requires.

Satellite Ground Communication Systems

The ground segment is where a mission is actually operated — commanding the spacecraft, capturing telemetry, and moving data to the scientists who depend on it. Alethium designs, builds, and sustains these ground communication systems, including telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) processing and dynamic external earth-terminal communication. Our team helped deliver the modernized single-baseline Java ground architecture used across NASA JPL's Jason ocean-altimetry fleet, from Jason-1 through the operational Jason-3 mission.

Mission-Critical and Real-Time Software

Spacecraft operations leave no room for downtime or ambiguity. We engineer real-time and near-real-time software in C, C++, and Java to strict uptime, determinism, and integration requirements, and we own it across the full lifecycle — requirements, architecture, implementation, verification and validation, and multi-decade sustainment. Alethium's work on the Jason-1 ground system earned JPL's Software of the Year award in 2002, a recognition that still reflects how we approach every mission-critical build.

Strategic Communications Systems

Modern missions rarely operate in isolation. Alethium builds communications systems that interoperate cleanly across organizations, ground stations, and international partners, integrating disparate data sources, protocols, and standards into dependable operational pipelines. The same rigor we apply to spacecraft ground links carries into strategic communications work, where secure integration and around-the-clock reliability are non-negotiable.

Federal Small-Business Program Execution

Alethium is a veteran-owned small business and a direct prime contractor to NASA JPL (NAICS 541511). We understand the compliance, reporting, and delivery discipline that federal programs demand, and we execute against it consistently — recognized with JPL's Small Vendor of the Year award for FY23. Partnering with Alethium helps agencies meet their small-business goals without trading away technical depth or program reliability.

Put our expertise to work

Explore the satellite missions we've supported, review our technical expertise and service offerings, or contact us to discuss your program.