Maxar Technologies, a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, completed the first Critical Design Review (CDR) of the Maxar 300 series bus for L3Harris Technologies in support of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Tracking Layer (T1TRK) program. The T1TRK program is designed to provide global warning and tracking of conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.
Maxar’s inaugural Maxar 300 series bus is designed for eight or more space vehicles per launch while delivering the demanding low jitter and high power required for the missile defense mission.
“We designed the Maxar 300 series platform to be quickly scalable,” said Chris Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Space at Maxar. “The team completed CDR just ten months from the award, and we’re on schedule to begin production of our platforms later this year with initial deliveries in early 2024. Our customers need speed and agility while ensuring a superior technical product, and that’s what Maxar’s commercial experience can deliver.”
The comprehensive review examined the new system's principal elements, including structural design, power, attitude control, command, and data handling. Maxar will build 16 platforms for the T1TRK program, each about the width of a conventional oven. Those dimensions help the SDA achieve its goals to significantly reduce the size, weight, power, and cost compared to traditional missile detection satellites. The SDA mission will also adapt and extend Maxar’s deep commercial communications satellite experience for new uses.
Designed, engineered, and built in-house in California, the Maxar 300 buses are modular platforms that benefit from the company’s decades of experience building more than 90 spacecraft for low Earth orbit. Both the platform and Maxar’s production capacity are scalable, with the ability to address multiple missions with flexible production rates that meet delivery timelines.
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