IGF::OT::IGF THE NASA SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION (SCAN) PROGRAM IS DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OPEN ARCHITECTURE FOR CIVILIAN SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION. THE FUTURE ARCHITECTURE AND SYSTEM COMPONENTS MUST BE FLEXIBLE TO MEET DYNAMICALLY CHANGING NEEDS BETWEEN INVESTMENTS IN OPERATIONS (E.G., TO LOWER COST) AND DEVELOPMENT (I.E., TO INFUSE NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES). THE RESULTANT ARCHITECTURE MUST BE AFFORDABLE AS WELL AS SUSTAINABLE WITHIN A FLAT OR DECREASING BUDGET ENVIRONMENT. SCAN PLANS ON DEVELOPING AN OPTICAL PATHFINDER SATELLITE (OPS) SPACECRAFT TO DEMONSTRATE AND VALIDATE AN OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM TO: - BECOME AN INITIAL NODE FOR NEXT GENERATION SPACE COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE - CREATE RESILIENT, SECURE COMMUNICATIONS -DEMONSTRATE HIGH DATA RATE ROUTING, CROSS-LINKS, AND PROCESSING - DEMONSTRATE A TRANSITION PATH TO OPERATIONS - DEMONSTRATE INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN MULTIPLE OPTICAL SYSTEMS THE NEXT GENERATION RELAY CAPABILITY (NGC) PROJECT IS LED BY NASA GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC) SATCOM AND IS CURRENTLY IN THE PRE-FORMULATION PHASE. THE NGC EFFORT IS SPONSORED BY SCAN PROGRAM IN THE HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE FOR OPTICAL SPACE COMMUNICATIONS. NASA GRC IS CONSIDERING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) MODEL (NASA, OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (OGAS), AND INDUSTRY) FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NGC. THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THIS PPP EFFORT ARE TO: - ENABLE U.S. PREEMINENCE IN EMERGING SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS - ESTABLISH U.S. INDUSTRY SUPPLY CHAIN OF OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES - PROVIDE INDUSTRY A PLATFORM TO DEMONSTRATE OPTICAL AND RF CAPABILITIES TO POTENTIALLY EXPAND IN EXISTING COMMUNICATION MARKETS OR SPUR NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.