Neel Mehta
A Space Systems Loral-managed division of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates has received recognition from NASA for its support on a January robotic servicing mission at the International Space Station.
SSL said Wednesday the Johnson Space Center acknowledged the support of MDA US Systems in planning and validating the maneuvers to update the ISS power system using the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator robotic arm.
Rich White, senior vice president for business development at SSL’s government systems unit, noted that SSL and MDA will continue to work on robotic augmentation and servicing operations with NASA.
NASA JSC ground controllers and MDA personnel in Houston collaborated during the mission earlier this year to operate Dextre to replace the space station’s 12 nickel-hydrogen batteries with six lighter lithium-ion batteries.
SSL said using the robotic arm helped reduce the needed astronaut extravehicular activities from six to two in efforts to mitigate potential safety risks to ISS crew and allot the time for other work.
The company is part of other NASA operations such as Restore-L with the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Discovery mission as well as the Dragonfly and Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites programs with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
