Space Systems Loral has signed and executed an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop advanced capabilities for servicing and maintaining spacecraft in geostationary orbit. Details of the partnership were previously released on February 9, 2017.

SSL is a U.S. company, which employs more than 2,000 people in Palo Alto, California, where it has done business for 60 years. The work scope for the DARPA mission will be performed in its U.S. facility by its staff of engineers and technicians based in California.

"SSL is looking ahead to help satellite operators and government agencies address the demand for cost efficiency paired with next generation technology," said Howard Lance, chief executive officer, SSL MDA Holdings.

"Now SSL is working with both NASA and DARPA on their programs which develop a range of cooperative in-orbit satellite servicing capabilities that will shape future space architectures and provide flexibility for how both commercial and government satellite operators manage their fleets."

SSL and NASA successfully complete first Restore-L milestone
In related news, Space Systems Loral has successfully completed the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) for the Restore-L project to demonstrate satellite servicing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

As announced on December 9, 2016, SSL is working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to build a spacecraft that will use robotics to grasp, refuel, and relocate an existing U.S. government satellite already in LEO orbit with the goal of demonstrating tools, technologies, and techniques that can be implemented on future government and commercial missions.

The SRR, which took place over a two-day period at the SSL satellite manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California, enabled the SSL and NASA teams to work together to review and verify the functional and performance requirements defined for the Restore-L spacecraft.

The requirements that the teams agreed upon will drive modifications to the SSL 1300 platform, which is commonly used for commercial missions in geostationary orbit. The spacecraft will provide the structural support, propulsion, attitude control, data and communications interface, and power to support the Restore-L robotic payload for the on-orbit demonstration.

"I would like to congratulate both the NASA and SSL teams on reaching this initial milestone for the Restore-L mission," said Richard White, SSL Government Solutions.

"SSL has a record of partnering with government organizations to integrate commercially proven systems and processes that help to reduce costs and shorten schedules. Completing the SRR is the first demonstration of our successful collaboration on this program."

SSL is contributing to a variety of next generation government missions, including a NASA Discovery Mission to explore the metal asteroid called Psyche; and the Dragonfly program, which will demonstrate on orbit satellite assembly.

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Mitsubishi Electric Chosen as Prime Contractor of Japanese Government's Engineering Test Satellite 9
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 10, 2017
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has been chosen by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as the prime contractor for the Engineering Test Satellite 9 (ETS-9) scheduled to launch in 2021. The ETS-9 will be the centerpiece of a project to develop an advanced satellite bus, or common model, for various high-throughput satellites (HTS) for communications. Mitsubishi Electric hopes to l ... read more

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