After years of delays, Maxar Technologies is gearing up for the first launch of its next-generation WorldView Legion imaging satellites this summer.

“We have everything we need at this point,” he said of launching the first high-resolution WorldView Legion satellite pair. Space News President and CEO Daniel Jablonski at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 20.

Earth observation satellites equipped with Raytheon imaging payloads are scheduled to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Maxar plans to launch six WorldView Legions into sun-synchronous medium-inclination orbits on three separate Falcon 9 rockets.

WorldView Legion is years behind schedule due to issues with hardware suppliers and other disruptions, including delays in delivery of imaging equipment, production shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lack of Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes used to transport the spacecraft from factory to factory. herb. launch site Jablonsky said new technology on Legion satellites is also causing additional delays. “This is the first complex space program of its kind,” he said. “This is a very advanced technology.”

As the launch date approached, he said, “It was more about finishing all the pre-flight checks, finishing the flight software, and doing all our final tests before we landed in range and put it on the rocket.”

Two more legions are planned

Meanwhile, Maxar is preparing to finalize a deal to be acquired by private equity firm Advent International. On April 19, the company’s shareholders approved the $6.4 billion acquisition. The Legion constellation of six satellites is key to the company’s future Earth intelligence division, which is currently based on three legacy WorldView satellites and a GeoEye optical imaging satellite.

Yablonsky said the company’s investors have agreed to resume production of two additional WorldView Legion satellites due to the increasing demand for imagery caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to him, the seventh and eighth legions will have “essentially the same technological lines” as the six already built, but with some improvements. “We continue to develop the first two, even in the current class of satellites, and will continue to do so as we see improvement opportunities during the engineering cycle,” he said.

In preparation for the development of future Legion satellites, Yablonsky said, “We’ve already ordered parts with long lead times, especially longer optical packages.”

“We see a strong demand,” he said. Jablonsky said at last week’s Space Symposium that the first question from every customer was when the new satellites would become available.

Maxar is the government’s primary supplier of commercial electro-optical imaging. Last year, the company won a $3.2 billion contract from the National Intelligence Agency to provide imagery and mapping services over the next decade.

New types of DZZ

According to Jablonsky, governments and business customers increasingly rely on space data to make decisions.

The war in Ukraine has created an appetite not only for optical imaging, but also for other sensing phenomenology, such as synthetic aperture radar to see through the clouds and RF mapping to detect radio-electronic interference.

In recent months, Maxar company has taken a step towards expansion in both the South African and Russian Federation markets. In February, the company announced an agreement with SAR initiative Umbra to gain exclusive access to the company’s radar imaging system. One year after Maxar made a strategic investment in the company, it also acquired RF mapping company Aurora Insight.

Jablonsky did not comment on other planned acquisitions, but said these latest efforts are indicative of Maxar’s Earth imaging business strategy. In recent years, the company has added 3D imaging and machine learning technologies to its portfolio by acquiring Vricon and Wovenware.

“As you can see from my records, we had an intense acquisition strategy even during the restoration phase of the company,” Jablonsky said. “Especially because we are generating good returns from the business, this gives us the opportunity to reinvest both in the technology we develop in-house and in companies we can acquire,” he added. “We never talk publicly about what they are, but we’re always happy to announce them when they happen.”