Whether it’s fight wars, gathering intelligence, checking weather patterns for farmers, or just getting from Point A to Point B, almost everything we do in the digital age is dependent upon all the satellites orbiting the Earth.

Today, the next step is already underway as Space Race 2.0 starts to heat up.

With more and more countries and companies looking to expand the possibilities of space, it’s crucial that we develop reliable, powerful communications platforms that can manage all the data that is sent and received from the next frontier.

Laser communications is that next step.

Certainly, there are already a number of companies involved in space communications equipment, but the leaders that will continue to power this MegaTrend are already moving into the next phase.

Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) is one of those companies, as is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), which is launching its own satellite system using Blue Origin. There’s SpaceX as well with its Starlink satellite web service, but that isn’t public yet. Kepler Communications is another one to watch.

There are several others, including a number of defense firms, like Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).

One of the most impressive is L3Harris (NYSE: LHX). It has been making secure comms systems from walkie talkies for troops for decades, and it has also built the comms systems for NASA, almost since its inception.

Things are moving swiftly on to the next generation of space communications, and these companies represent the essential infrastructure for our next adventures to the Moon, asteroids, and someday to Mars.

They will also bolster colonization efforts on the Moon with autonomous vehicles and in other inhospitable environments.