Company - Northrop Grumman (SpaceLogistics)
Product/Service - Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV)
- Classification
- In-Space Transportation
- Category
- On-Orbit Servicing
- Fields
- In-Space Satellite Servicing
- Status
- Active
- First launch
- 2019
On-Orbit Servicing
- The company is still deciding which of the more than 50 satellites in its fleet will be equipped with a Mission Extension Pod (MEP) from SpaceLogistics, which plans to install it in 2026 using a Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) servicer with a robotic arm.
- After the MRV and pods all make separate climbs to GEO orbit using onboard solar-electric thrusters, the MRV will capture the three pods and transport them to satellites needing fuel.
- One of the three pods is intended for Australian satellite operator Optus, announced last year as SpaceLogistics’ first customer for the Mission Extension Pod service. If all goes to plan, the Mission Robotic Vehicle will install a pod on Optus D3 satellite in 2025.
- Early last year, SpaceLogistics said six companies had signed term sheets to buy MEPs for a service it says is suitable for GEO satellites with a mass of around 2,000 kilograms.
Northrop Grumman says customers are ‘lined up’ for on-orbit satellite servicing, 2022-03-24.
- “We’ve got a whole bunch of companies that are lined up ready to use it, which tells us that the market is there,” Hauge said.
- The MEP is a different business model. The propulsion pack is delivered on orbit, he explained. “We use our MRV to dock it to the satellite, we train the operators, we give them the software and they fly that satellite.”
Northrop Grumman Expands Satellite Life-Extension Services, 2024-05-23.
- At the end of the current servicing period, MEV-1 will relocate and release the Intelsat 901 (IS-901) satellite into the Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) graveyard and provide service for another Intelsat satellite.
- MEV-2 will remain docked to Intelsat’s current vehicle, Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02), providing life-extension for an additional four years – nearly doubling service from the original contract.
- Using commercial technology to facilitate greater in-space mobility for the Department of Defense (DoD), the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is working with three companies to provide logistics services enabling low-cost, responsive access to GEO and other exotic orbits beyond LEO).
- Providing a suite of in-space refueling technologies, including the Active Refueling Moule (ARM) and Passive Refueling Module (PRM), in concert with complementary efforts sponsored by Space Systems Command (SSC).
- The refueling system includes elements to successfully dock and transfer fuel, as well as a refueling payload that handles fuel transfer. SSC contracted with Northrop Grumman to fly the PRM on an operational mission. Additionally, SSC funded and DIU contracted SpaceLogistics to integrate and fly the PRM on the company’s Mission Robotics Vehicle.
On-orbit servicing mission planned for military satellite in 2025, SpaceNews, 2024-03-27.
- In a mission targeted for 2025, a robot satellite in geostationary orbit around 22,000 miles above Earth will rendezvous with a military satellite and attempt to affix a new imaging sensor payload on the spacecraft.
- The servicing vehicle — equipped with a robot arm developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Naval Research Laboratory — will seek to connect the payload to the satellite’s launch adapter ring.
- The Mission Robotics Vehicle (MRV) that will perform this mission is being built by Northrop Grumman’s subsidiary SpaceLogistics. The company under an agreement with DARPA is equipping the vehicle with two robot arms designed by NRL with DARPA funding.
- Motiv Space, known for its space robotics expertise, is providing engineering support. Katalyst Space, which specializes in on-orbit servicing hardware, designed a “space domain awareness” sensor that gives a satellite greater visibility of its surroundings in the GEO belt, a crucial zone for military communications and reconnaissance spacecraft.
- Katalyst is also supplying a “retrofit attachment system” to facilitate the attachment of a payload on unprepared satellites. Lee explained the retrofit system allows a payload to be installed on the satellite’s existing launch adapter ring.
Northrop Grumman eyes 2026 launch of robot-armed satellite servicer, 2024-11-14.
- Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary is eyeing a 2026 launch for its next-generation satellite servicing vehicle, the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV).
- The company has already secured three customers for its MRV services — two satellites from Intelsat and one from Optus. These clients will receive Mission Extension Pods (MEPs), propulsion jet packs that can add approximately six years of operational life to aging satellites.
Status Comment / Notes
Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) planning to launch in 2026 as of November 2024. Has been delayed 2+ years.
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