Lockheed Martin announced a new line of satellites, ranging in size from nano-satellites to large spacecraft, developed over several years with an investment of approximately 300 million dollars and suitable for a variety of missions in space. The new satellites contain new technologies and share a large number of similar and identical parts, which helps speed up production and save operational costs over the years, the company said.
"We invested approximately 300 million dollars in the development of the new satellite solutions we are presenting, which relied on the study and development of hundreds of satellites from previous generations that were used for many missions in diverse ranges," said Rick Ambrose, senior vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Today, we have families of satellites that are suitable for carrying out tasks with specific descriptions, which correspond to the launch capabilities, the software applications, the loading of the weights, the operation and the transportation from the launch bases and more. With the many changes that the space market is going through in the fields of security, science and commercial use, we come prepared with many platforms for the needs of our customers and partners."
According to Lockheed Martin, the four new satellite families have the following features: The LM50 nanosatellite family enables a wider range of satellite sizes and energy that have been improved following the investment inTerran Orbital. The LM400 family of satellites, intended for operation in a low satellite, geostationary or interplanetary orbit, have a more powerful propulsion capacity than satellites of a similar weight and production efficiency thanks to the use of 3D printing that shortens the time of construction, assembly and delivery to the customer to only 24 months. The heavier series are divided into the LM1000 series for medium-range missions and have similar features to the LM2100 series of satellites that make it efficient, cheap and capable of carrying more weight while adapting to remote sensing missions. The fourth series is the modern LM2100A satellite version of the LM2100 series that received 26 upgraded features compared to the previous generation.
The company added that the new satellites share no less than 280 common features and parts, thus optimizing the production and maintenance process, making it cheaper and increasing the reliability of their operation. In addition, according to Lockheed Martin, the company's software support systems increase the flexibility and operating options of the satellites according to the customer's needs.
