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Ibadan, 18 March 2024. – Terran Orbital Corporation has announced its entrance into the small satellite geosynchronous orbit (GEO) market with its SmallSat GEO solution for satellites above 500kg. The Corporation will consequently unveil the solution at the SATELLITE 2024 trade show, happening March 18-21 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
SmallSat GEO is intended for the communications market and can operate in geosynchronous orbit and provide higher power and performance than may have been necessary for LEO. The geosynchronous market is moving more towards small satellites with more and more GEO spacecraft ordered in the small size class. As a result, Terran Orbital is leveraging its investment in a 94,000 sq ft advanced manufacturing facility with automation in build and test, as well as three previous GEO missions, to expand into this market.
Terran Orbital’s SmallSat GEO aims to offer various capabilities, including a high-performing platform compactly packaged to support missions with the best price/bit offering. Likewise, it promises a payload that is adaptable to commercial/customer-provided or Terran Orbital-supplied payloads. This consequently allows for independently steerable multi-beam arrays. Terran Orbital’s Smallsat GEO will also have a significantly lower cost, with a faster delivery timeline than traditional GEO.
Speaking on the new solution, Marc Bell, Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer at Terran Orbital, said, “Our customers require agility, affordability, and the ability to adapt their geosynchronous communication architecture. We can bring our LEO small satellite heritage to GEO and provide the agile customization that our customers have come to expect and value.”
By offering this new capability, Terran Orbital aims to solidify its position in cost-effective, responsive space solutions. The company commits to developing innovative and cost-effective technologies that empower the national security community and revolutionize the future of space exploration.
