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Pentagon awards contract for 'fractionated' satellites
Washington (AFP) March 5, 2008 Lockheed Martin has been awarded a 5.7 million dollar Pentagon contract to design clusters of small, individually launched satellites that can operate as a network in space, the company said Wednesday. The contract awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) was for the first phase of a program dubbed "F6," which stands for "Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange." The program aims to show that large traditional satellites can be replaced with smaller "fractionated" satellites that would fly in clusters and be linked through wireless networks. Capabilities such as computing, ground communications, or payloads could be distributed among the satellites in the network, the company said. "The ultimate goal of the program is to launch a fractionated spacecraft system and demonstrate it in orbit in approximately four years," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. The preliminary design phase covers a year-long period in which Lockheed Martin will evaluate available technologies and simulate "the fractionated space network mission," it said. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com
Surrey Wins Role On Canadian Satellite Program
Guildford UK (SPX) Feb 05, 2008Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in the UK has been awarded a contract from Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) to deliver a satellite platform as part of the Sapphire space object surveillance programme. MDA has been selected as the mission prime and will lead the Sapphire mission team that will include SSTL and COM DEV of Cambridge, Ontario, who will build the payload. |
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