Maxar engineers prepare the Psyche spacecraft bus for transport to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab. Credit: Business Wire.

Nasa has taken delivery of the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis from earth intelligence and space infrastructure provider Maxar.

Based on Maxar’s 1300-class platform, the SEP Chassis is designed for Nasa’s Psyche discovery mission. It was delivered to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The lightest and smallest graphite platform will power the Psyche spacecraft on its more than one billion miles journey to an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in 2026.

It will operate in a low-power environment due to the distance of the asteroid from the Sun.

The spacecraft platform is integrated with a medium-sized solar array, a high-gain antenna and Maxar’s latest SEP system.

The company was contracted to provide the spacecraft platform in 2017. It has now delivered all hardware on schedule.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Maxar is working for Nasa JPL to support the mission’s principal investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton.

Maxar space capture senior vice-president Robert Curbeam said: “This mission is a dream come true. Maxar developed the world’s most advanced solar electric propulsion capabilities to reduce programme costs and enable long-duration missions for commercial communications satellites.

“We are excited to leverage this technology for a Nasa deep space exploration mission and see great promise for adapting it to support a range of critical government space missions in the future.”

Nasa plans to launch the Psyche mission in August 2022. After arriving at the asteroid, it will spend 21 months orbiting the 140 mile-wide asteroid.

Maxar’s 1300-class platform and SEP technology are also being used for the Nasa Gateway Power and Propulsion Element as part of the Artemis programme.