Several Satellite servicing missions have been developed over the past few years. SpaceMike is here to discuss some of the updates regarding those programs from Orbital ATK and DARPA.
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For your midweek tomorrow fix, we've got some more news for you.
Mike, tell me what's going on with some satellites.
Well, what I wanted to talk about is actually that there's lots of different updates that
have been going on with satellite servicing missions.
There's lots of different projects and proposals that have been going on over the years.
But first I wanted to start it off with Orbital ATK's proposal.
Now Orbital ATK is developing something they're calling the Mission Extension Vehicle or MEV-1.
And they've completed the critical design, they've completed that design review earlier
this year.
And they're now about 75% complete with the production of the platform and the payload
components that are already being delivered to their satellite manufacturing facility
in Virginia.
And despite not being picked for a DARPA program, which some say that they've never even applied
to in the first place, Orbital ATK is still seeing their concept as something that the
industry needs and that could be very profitable for them.
The spacecraft will begin system-level design testing in the spring of 2018.
And then they're going to have their first launch later next year.
And MEV will provide life for their first customer, IntelSat.
So I find that really interesting in that they're pushing right along with their progress
for it.
Now speaking of DARPA, Orbital ATK did have that lawsuit against DARPA saying that their
whole robotic servicing and geosynchronous satellite program, which contracted out to
Space Systems Loral, was totally unfair and giving Space Systems Loral an unfair advantage.
But that lawsuit was dismissed in court.
Recently though, it seems that DARPA may already be transitioning the program into Space Systems
Loral's hands commercially.
And suggestions of rumors have been going around that DARPA may be forced to stop funding
the project, although no official reports have been released yet.
Meanwhile, Space Systems Loral is also working on NASA's satellite servicing project called
RESTORE-L, which is essentially the same goal, although it would be for low-Earth or even
medium-Earth orbit satellites.
Now one way to look at this is that no matter what happens, one way or another, I believe
that these ideas are going to be very helpful in the satellite industry and will extend
the lifespan of a lot of our communications satellites for many, many years.
And one way or another, however this goes, I think that this is going to be very, very
helpful and I, for one, am really glad to see competition right from the get-go from
these two American companies.
So I'm really looking forward to these next year.
Both missions are going to be doing lots of different testing.
And if this works, then we'll be able to utilize a lot of our technology for many years
to come.
If you like that news and are interested in more, feel free to come on over and check
out Orbit 10.34, or you can join us live every Saturday at 1800 UTC.
