Radiant Solutions Develops Optical System for Earth Observation Satellites

Radiant Solutions has been awarded a US$2 million contract by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a team in designing, building, and demonstrating a next-generation optical telescope system for agile small satellite constellations.

Radiant Solutions is partnered on this program with SSL, Maxar's spacecraft manufacturing business, demonstrating the power of combining unique capabilities from across Maxar to meet the U.S. Defense and Intelligence agency demand for small form-factor satellites. Radiant Solutions will provide world-class geospatial mission engineering expertise, augmented by SSL's decades of experience in providing powerful and resilient spacecraft systems.

Both Radiant Solutions and SSL are focused on helping national security customers see, understand and anticipate activity across our changing planet in support of global mapping and intelligence missions. The companies' combined advanced capabilities are driving revenue growth for Maxar's Space Systems Segment by contributing to a variety of defence and intelligence missions which aim to accelerate innovation in support of global GEOINT missions, next-generation spacecraft design, missile defence, and end-to-end system engineering and integration support.

The satellite telescope system's lightweight design and large field-of-view is expected to enable more capable small satellites that can be manufactured more rapidly and economically. The system can easily scale to many dozens of spacecraft for persistent, resilient coverage. To reduce mass, the system's design incorporates a robust, high-performance silicon carbide material designed for the most demanding applications in space.

"Radiant Solutions is proud to play a major role in the development of disruptive, next-generation technologies that will transform satellite imaging missions and enhance global mapping and intelligence at scale," said Tony Frazier, President of Radiant Solutions. "With our team's extensive experience in highly specialised geospatial systems, we're uniquely positioned to accelerate the evolution of the DoD's most critical imaging infrastructure."

"SSL brings unmatched integrated spacecraft system capabilities to deliver effective and affordable end-to-end solutions that build a better world and support our nation's leadership in space," said Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems. "We're delighted to be working closely with our colleagues at Maxar Technologies to solve problems from space."