INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A demonstration mission of Northrop Grumman first-ever Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) has proven successful, extending the life of an
Intelsat satellite by five years
The mission involved Northrop MEV docking with Intelsat IS-901 satellite in orbit on February 25, after which it altered the orbit of the
Intelsat spacecraft to bury it more operating time.
While the original docking occurred in late February, the MEV has spent the intervening
time altering the orbit of IS-901, and Intelsat has since also transitioned some of its customers to the previously inactive satellite for
use of its communication services
It now providing &full service,& the companies announced, and will continue to do so for another five years, before the MEV returns it to
its decommissioned orbit for final retirement
At that time, MEV-1 will become available again for other space tug missions, able to perform the same service for another satellite.
This
is a big step in terms of orbital sustainability and in-space servicing and life extension, particular for Northrop Grumman, which can now
For Intelsat, the company sees it as a &cost-effective and efficient way& to continue to offer uninterrupted service and address customer
needs without requiring building and launching an entirely new satellite, the release notes.
There been a shift in the industry away from
large, geosynchronous satellites to fleets of small, agile low-Earth orbit smallsats, owing to cost considerations
Orbital servicing could help provide another option, but for now it likely to appeal more to legacy space industry satellite operators than
to the newer constellation startups.
Northrop is planning a second MEV spacecraft to launch to service another Intelsat satellite later this
year, however, so it does look like it could be a market in the near-term, and it could change the economics of larger spacecraft in future,
