Pasadena Company to Play Role in Defense Agency Satellite, Spacecraft Servicing Business

A Pasadena company will be playing a significant role in developing systems to service and maintain America’s orbiting infrastructure of spacecraft and satellites.

Space Systems Loral, which manages Pasadena-based MDA US Systems, has been selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the capability of servicing and maintaining spacecraft and other infrastructure in the geostationary arc, under the agency’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program.

The RSGS program is expected to be the foundation of a new business for SSL that will serve both commercial and government operators with repair, upgrade, relocation, and refueling of on-orbit assets.

Last year, SSL said that it is working with the US Naval Research Laboratory, through MDA US Systems in Pasadena, to design and build robotic arm flight hardware for the RSGS program.

“This will be SSL’s first spacecraft contract with the Department of Defense in recent years and it is the third time that we have been selected by the U.S. government for a major program in just two months,” Howard Lance, chief executive officer of SSL MDA Holdings, said. “It clearly demonstrates the success of our strategy to bring the benefits of our commercial business to a broader audience and to grow our business with U.S. government work.”

Recently, SSL was selected for NASA’s Restore-L and Psyche missions.

Based on its industry leading platform, SSL is expected to provide a spacecraft to carry the robotic servicing payload and will manage integration and operation of the spacecraft. Darpa will contribute the robotics technology, expertise, and a government-provided launch. MDA will add a refueling capability to the RSGS program.

When launched, RSGS will have the capability to perform multiple servicing missions for both planned and urgent customer needs, including high-resolution inspection, refueling, correction of mechanical anomalies, assistance with relocation and other orbital maneuvers, and installation of attachable payloads.

The company will market these services as a commercial business and is already in discussion with several key customers.

“RSGS’s capability will be marketed to both commercial and government satellite operators, providing them with unprecedented flexibility in fleet management and capital deployment,” Steve Oldham, SSL senior vice president for strategic business development, says. “Refueling provides a compelling value proposition and our sophisticated robotic capability will enable new on-orbit applications only available from RSGS.”

SSL employs over 2,300 people and is based in Palo Alto, where it has done business for 60 years.

MDA US Systems was started in Pasadena by three Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineers, as Alliance Space Systems Inc. (ASI). The engineers grew the business from a start in JPL Mars rover/lander robotics arms to composite structures and ultimately a broad set of electromechanical devices for aerospace applications.

The company also secured a number of multi-year supplier contracts with JPL, providing engineering design and analysis services as well as composites fabrication. Its deep relationship with JPL continues to current day.

To learn more about MDA US Systems and SSL, visit www.mdacorp-us.com.