Ball Aerospace & Technologies has been awarded a one year extension contract by the US Air Force (USAF) Space and Missile Systems Center, Space Development & Test Directorate (SMC/SD) to provide support for their STPSat-2 spacecraft.
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Under the new contract, the company will continue to provide space vehicle support to the satellite till 1 February 2013, following the completion of initial experimental mission requirements for the space craft that ended in January this year.
Ball Aerospace president and CEO, David Taylor, said: "The STPSat-2 provides the affordable and resilient space capability the Air Force is looking for."
"Following a flawless first year on-orbit, this game-changing spacecraft has proven to be an outstanding collaboration between Ball and the Air Force," Taylor said.
The satellite was launched in November 2010 from Alaska’s Kodiak Launch Complex to offer critical mission capabilities for the USAF.
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By GlobalDataWeighing about 180kg, STPSat-2 is capable of supporting a collective payload weight of 70kg while a single spacecraft is capable of supporting four independent payloads with separate power and data interfaces.
STPSat-2 is one of seven spacecraft to fly aboard the STP-S26 mission in STP’s 40-year career of flying US Department of Defence (US DoD) space experiments.
Each flight-proven Ball Configurable Platform 100 (BCP-100) interface bus is developed for all Low Earth Orbits (LEOS) and can fly from 400km – 850km without design variations.
The company said that the three payloads aboard STPSat-2 spacecraft will continue to operate technically.
Ball Aerospace has completed the design of STPSat-3 spacecraft, which is similar to the current STPSat-3, and is scheduled to be launched aboard Minotaur launch vehicle next year.
Image: The next spacecraft in series, the STPSat-3, is expected to be launched aboard the Minotaur launcher in 2013. Photo: Ball Aerospace.
