Bitten by past failures DARPA chooses proven Northrop Grumman for satellite servicing demo contract

by | Mar 9, 2020 | Satellites, Seradata News, Technology

Having licked its wounds over past investment failures – the ending of the XS-1 reusable rocket programme after Boeing’s unilateral withdrawal being the most recent example – US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is determined to pick more proven projects to invest in. Following the successful demonstration docking of the Northrop Grumman MEV-1 service spacecraft with its Intelsat 901 target, DARPA is to fund Northrop Grumman via its Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites programme.

This will launch a similar Northrop Grumman-built Mission Robotic Vehicle spacecraft. This has been designed to dock with GEO satellites so that DARPA’s specialist robot repair arms (developed by the US Naval Research Laboratory) can be demonstrated.

Originally DARPA eschewed Northrop Grumman to partner with the Maxar-owned SSL (formerly known as Space Systems Loral), but SSL withdrew for financial reasons.

The MEV-1 satellite docking with Intelsat 901. Courtesy of Northrop Grumman

 

 

 

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacechinavideoFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosevaspacewalkDGABlue Originaviation weekInternational Space StationRocket LabaresIGTsoyuzBeidouawardsStarlinkAirbus DSboeingspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionmarsjaxaimpactEutelsatdelayhyperbolaSESdemocratthales alenia spacegoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamalaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedElon MuskLockheed MartinRaymond LygoAtlas V2009romeExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2sstl2008wk2aviationLucyradiouksuborbitalVirgin Orbittestmissiledocking portexplorationSLSAriane 5 ECAinternetLong March 2D/2China Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanElectronmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesAriane 6Intelsat 23European Space AgencyLauncherOnespace shuttleCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkLong March 2Cnew shepardInmarsatVietnamatvshenzhoucongressMojavelaunchesboldenUK Space AgencycnesOrbital ATKUS Air Forcelunar landeriacGuiana Space CenterApollolawsSpace Systems/LoralLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscprotonElectron KSdarpaILSTalulah RileyVega CFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5Space InsuranceNorth KoreaeuSkylonAstriumpicturebaseusaastronautdragonlanderfiveeventTelesatSSLEchostarAprilSNC50thfalconWednesdaySea LaunchLong MarchinterviewViasat

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.