MDA receives commercial contracts for on-orbit servicing technologies

The OSAM-1 mission, formerly known as Restore-L, will demonstrate robotic servicing technologies in orbit, including satellite refueling, assembly and in-space manufacturing. The SPIDER payload's lightweight 16-foot (5-metre) robotic arm will assemble multiple antenna reflector elements to form a single, functional 9-foot (3-metre) communications Ka-band antenna. MDA has announced that it has signed multiple contracts with Maxar Technologies to provide advanced space robotics technologies for the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER), a technology demonstration on NASA's On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission. MDA will deliver an enabling technology suite of advanced robot control software and interfaces to help achieve assembly and servicing tasks never done to date. These include:

+ A dexterous end effector;
+ Robotic arm control software;
+ Motor control software;
+ Robotic console command and control software and computers;
+ Grapple fixtures and targets for on-orbit assembly interfaces, and
+ Compact cameras and controllers for situational awareness and robotic arm operation.

MDA will also deliver the Motor Control Electronics and Arm Control Electronics on the SPIDER robotic arm. These essential components drive and control each of the motors and joints of the arm as well as providing the data routing and interfacing between joints and cameras.

The work on these three contracts will be performed at MDA facilities in Brampton and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. These products will be delivered in mid-to-late 2021 and incorporated into Maxar's robotic system. They will not only support the goal of making on-orbit assembly commercially viable, but could also support other on-orbit services like debris removal, anomaly resolution, life extension, and salvage of stranded spacecraft.

There is a clear need to service the world's space infrastructure, both commercial and government, and MDA is well positioned to address this burgeoning market.

MDA has unparalleled and proven space servicing capabilities developed through various government programs over the last 40 years, including the Canadian government's Canadarm program for the US Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs as well as other on-orbit servicing demonstrations such as the successful DARPA Orbital Express mission and NASA's Robotic Refueling Missions on the space station.