{"id":5738,"date":"2025-04-14T23:41:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/northrop-grumman-undocks-between-two-commercial-spacecraft-in-geosynchronous-orbit\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T23:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:41:35","slug":"northrop-grumman-undocks-between-two-commercial-spacecraft-in-geosynchronous-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/northrop-grumman-undocks-between-two-commercial-spacecraft-in-geosynchronous-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Northrop Grumman Undocks Between Two Commercial Spacecraft in Geosynchronous Orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1744617669929_638802144712022009.png\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr fr-dib\" width=\"711\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Northrop Grumman Undocks Between Two Commercial Spacecraft in Geosynchronous Orbit\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1744617669929_638802144712022009.png\" style=\"\"><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1744617669929_638802144712022009.png\"><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"711\"><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"375\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) developed by <strong>Northrop Grumman Corporation<\/strong>\u2019s Space Logistics LLC has successfully undocked with <strong>Intelsat<\/strong>\u2019s IS-901 satellite, completing its life extension service. This marks the first undocking between two commercial spacecraft in the geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) graveyard.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">MEV-1 has provided five years of life-extension services to IS-901, allowing Intelsat to operate this space-based asset beyond its design life.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2020, MEV-1 successfully proved docking with IS-901 was possible in the GEO graveyard orbit and brought IS-901 back into operation in GEO.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now that life-extension services are complete, MEV-1 released the IS-901 satellite back into the GEO graveyard and is relocating to the next servicing mission.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Northrop Grumman\u2019s Space Logistics has provided reliable service to the satellite operator for MEV-1\u2019s entire mission. MEV-2 will remain docked to Intelsat 10-02, providing life-extension for an additional four years \u2013 nearly doubling service from the original extension contract.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"widget-layout related-content-also-read-box my-3\">\n<h4 class=\"mb-0\">Also Read: What is a Space Laser Altimeter?<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Rob Hauge<\/strong><strong>, president, Space Logistics<\/strong>: \u201cThe first-of-its kind technology that extended a satellite\u2019s life is paving the way for an entire infrastructure of future on-orbit satellite servicing missions for a variety of customers. We are continuing to invest in next-generation capabilities to deliver the most technologically advanced servicing capabilities to support and maintain new and existing space-based assets.\u201d Northrop Grumman is currently the only proven provider of life-extension services for satellites in GEO \u2013 redefining the boundaries of resiliency, flexibility, and capabilities across government, commercial, and national security customers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">MEV-1 performed the first-ever in-orbit commercial spacecraft docking with IS-901 in the graveyard orbit before reducing the satellite\u2019s inclination and bringing it back into operation in GEO in 2020. Since the technology was successfully proven in the graveyard orbit with MEV-1, MEV-2 docked with Intelsat\u2019s IS-10-02 directly in GEO in 2021, with no reported disruption in service during the docking. Northrop Grumman\u2019s Space Logistics provides in-orbit satellite servicing to GEO satellite operators using its MEVs, which dock with customers\u2019 existing satellites to provide the propulsion and attitude control needed to extend satellite service lives. Starting next year, Space Logistics&#8217; next-generation systems will be able to provide expanded satellite services, including on-orbit repairs, upgrades, refueling, debris removal, assembly, and manufacturing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation\u2019s Space Logistics LLC has successfully undocked with Intelsat\u2019s IS-901 satellite, completing its life extension service. This marks the first undocking between two commercial spacecraft in the geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) graveyard. MEV-1 has provided five years of life-extension services to IS-901, allowing Intelsat to operate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29,26,20],"class_list":["post-5738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-adcs-systems","tag-ground","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}