Maxar Technologies has begun production on a Legion-class geostationary satellite for Ovzon, a company located in the United States and Sweden dedicated to meeting the demand for increased mobile broadband connectivity in underserved regions.
Ovzon selected Maxar in December 2018 to build its first satellite, Ovzon 3, which will provide extremely versatile mobile broadband communications for small vehicles, aircraft and users on-the-move. Now that Ovzon has secured financing to build the satellite, Maxar will begin building it in its Palo Alto, California manufacturing facility. The satellite will be based on the mid-size Legion-class platform, formerly called the SSL-500, and is expected to be launched by SpaceX in 2021.
“Maxar’s Legion-class platform offers the benefits of the company’s proven technology and performance from the 1300-class satellite bus with a lower cost and smaller form factor,” said Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Space Solutions. “We’re delighted to collaborate closely with Ovzon on the development of the first satellite in their architecture, which will deliver better communications from space for a better world here on Earth.”
“We chose Maxar to build Ovzon 3 because they have a strong reputation of delivering world-class, reliable products backed by industry leading customer service and manufacturing agility. Ovzon 3 is an important first step towards fulfilling our strategy to further revolutionize mobile broadband by satellite, offering the highest bandwidth with the smallest terminals,” said Magnus René, Chief Executive Officer of Ovzon.
The operations of DigitalGlobe, SSL and Radiant Solutions were unified under the Maxar brand in February; MDA continues to operate as an independent business unit within the Maxar organisation.
