MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has secured a contract to introduce updates to DigitalGlobe’s international ground stations for customers to directly receive and process Earth imagery and geospatial data from DigitalGlobe’s future WorldView-4 commercial satellite. MDA said Thursday WorldView-4 is scheduled to launch in September 2016 to provide customers with multi-spectral images of the Earth’s surface. The company aims […] More

Orbital ATK has received a five-year contract from a subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to produce and supply flight sets of titanium propellant tanks for integration with a commercial communications satellite. Orbital ATK’s space components division in California will manufacture flight sets comprised of two liquid propellant tanks for Space Systems/Loral’s SSL 1300 satellites, Orbital […] More

A subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates will support the research efforts of NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions on the asteroid Psyche as an industrial partner on a potential Discovery mission. MDA said Thursday Space Systems/Loral will participate in work on concept design studies with Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator on the project and director of Arizona State University’s School […] More

A subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates will investigate ideas on how to robotically assemble communication satellites while in orbit under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. MDA said Wednesday Space Systems/Loral will carry out the study for five months under the initial phase of DARPA’s Dragonfly program, which seeks to launch larger geostationary […] More

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has received a $25.7 million contract modification from the Canadian space agency to continue its support for the Mobile Servicing System aboard the International Space Station. MDA said Tuesday the modification extends its support through the end of October 2017. The Canada-built Mobile Servicing System is a robotics suite that consists the Canadarm2, Mobile Base System […] More

Northrop Grumman‘s Astro Aerospace business unit has completed delivery of 13 stored-energy monopole antennas to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates  — the prime contractor on the Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT Constellation Mission. Astro Aerospace said Wednesday the antennas are configurable, deployable and compact and will be installed onto the Automatic Identification System payload. They are designed to support Earth observation missions with their capability […] More

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, […] More

Telesat has selected Space Systems Loral, a subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, to produce a communications satellite for the satellite operator’s infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. The Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite will incorporate C- and Ku-band transponders and combine broad regional beams and high-throughput spot beams to help expand the company’s Asia Pacific […] More