Mary-Louise Hoffman
Chris Shank, vice president for civil and national security space at Maxar Technologies, said the company is preparing for the future of space exploration and Earth observation imagery to assist government customers with their missions.
Maxar and NASA are working to apply an electric propulsion technology used on company-built satellites to a planned lunar gateway for Artemis, the space agency’s mission to put astronauts on the moon by 2024, Shank told Federal News Network in an interview aired Wednesday.
He noted that artificial intelligence has the potential to support robotic platforms as well as ensure the safety and security of astronauts for a Mars mission.
Shank added the company aims to launch the next generation of Earth imaging satellite fleet, called WorldView Legion, sometime next year or in 2021 with a new system designed to monitor the world’s dangerous places.
In the same video interview, Tony Frazier — executive vice president for global field operations at Maxar and a 2019 Wash100 awardee — described Legion a “force multiplier” for intelligence missions.
