Orion Space Solutions has secured a contract from the US Space Force to build three small satellites to support a programme aimed at demonstrating commercial technology capabilities in space.
Working with partners Hera Systems, Inc. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., and SCOUT Space Inc., Orion Space Solutions (OSS) brings together a diversified team to build and deploy new satellites to geostationary orbit (GEO). Satellites in GEO orbits fly at a height where the satellite’s orbital period equals the Earth’s rotational speed. This allows a satellite to “sit” in space, viewing a single location on the Earth over time.
Speaking about the contract, Chad Fish, Project’s principal investigator and COO of Orion Space Solutions, said: “The OSS team looks forward to supporting USSF. The team, comprised largely of small, non-traditional aerospace businesses, demonstrates the depth of skill, as well as agility and innovation that small business delivers to US government programmes and more broadly within the aerospace industry.”
The OSS team offers experience in building mission-specific systems, including spacecraft and payload design, assembly, integration, and testing capabilities, as well as mission operations and ground support.
The OSS team’s small satellites – for this mission, about the size of two carry-on bags – offer the USSF a “New Space” agile, lower-cost access to space mission solution. End to end, USSF anticipates a five-year development and mission for the programme in support of its Tetra-5 Space Vision programme.
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