Brenda Marie Rivers
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has tapped Praxis to oversee mission planning for the Robotic Servicing for Geosynchronous Satellites program following Maxar Technologies’ departure from the effort in January, Space News reported Sunday.
The RSGS project, launched by DARPA and the Naval Research Laboratory in 2017, tasked Maxar’s Space Systems Loral business to integrate a satellite servicing payload onto the company’s satellite bus platform.
Maxar announced that financial issues were the reason for the company’s decision to withdraw from the effort.
Tony Marzi, general manager of Praxis, said at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology’s New Space Age Conference on Friday that the company is “pretty far along†on the payload development.
DARPA previously released a request for information on alternative methods of launching the satellite servicing mission, including spacecraft buses with GEO features and the capacity to carry the payload.
