Palo Alto, California – Space Systems/Loral (SSL), a provider of commercial satellites, has been selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to integrate the flight hardware for a new capability designed to carry small science and technology missions to space on its geostationary (GEO) satellite platform.
SSL plans to support completing the design and integration of the first Payload Orbital Delivery system (PODs) accommodation on the SSL 1300 platform that would enable delivery of small free-flying spacecraft beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for future servicing, operational, science, and technology space missions.
"The innovative PODs platform is paving the way for more affordable, frequent, and sustainable access to space," said John Celli, president of SSL. "DARPA's vision and commitment to this capability could open the door to many other small satellite and in-orbit servicing missions, enabled by frequent access to space on the SSL 1300 and other GEO based platforms."
SSL regularly works with a broad range of commercial satellite operators and has experience putting small government payloads and missions onto commercial spacecraft in order to reduce costs for both parties. SSL intends to work with both its commercial customers and Government agencies to facilitate this type of arrangement for the first implementation of the PODs platform and for other future missions.
SSL is one of 14 companies qualified by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) to compete for work with U.S. Government agencies to host government payloads on commercial satellites. The SMC awarded SSL two indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for both geostationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO)/Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) missions that will streamline the contracting process if SSL is selected for future work.
With 74 GEO satellites currently on orbit, and in partnership with MDA which has a long history of LEO satellite experience, including the RADARSAT Earth observation satellites for the Canadian Space Agency, SSL is positioned to help both telecommunications satellite operators and government agencies benefit from the cost and schedule efficiencies of a shared platform.
SSL has already demonstrated its leadership in working with U.S. Government agencies to integrate payloads onto commercial satellites, such as the U.S. Defense Department's joint capability technology demonstration (JCTD) of an Internet Router In Space (IRIS), which was hosted on a satellite that SSL built for Intelsat.
Currently, SSL is working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to place a Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), as a hosted payload, on a commercial satellite to be built by SSL and projected for launch in 2017. SSL is working with its commercial customers to identify an appropriate host satellite for the demonstration.
The HoPS IDIQ contract is intended to establish a pool of candidates that can provide rapid and flexible means for the government to acquire commercial hosting capabilities for government payloads. As one of the awardees, SSL will be eligible to compete for commercial Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) studies and future mission delivery orders over the five-year ordering period of the contract, up to a maximum value of $494.5 million.
SSL, a subsidiary of MDA, has a long history of delivering satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. As a provider of commercial satellites, the company works closely with satellite operators to provide spacecraft for a broad range of services including television and radio distribution, digital audio radio, broadband Internet, mobile communications, and Earth observation.
Source: MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates Ltd.