Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has opened a facility that streamlines small satellite (smallsat) processing to enable high-rate delivery.
The multi-million dollar facility will house the company’s Space Development Agency (SDA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites, among other smallsat programs and technology demonstrators.
The 20,000-square-foot, low bay clean room, located on the company’s Waterton campus, will feature six, scalable, parallel assembly lines and is configurable to host different classifications of missions concurrently. Built with flow and throughput in mind, the center is tailored to accommodate all stages of smallsat development, including spacecraft-level functional and performance testing.
The facility hosts dedicated testing capabilities, including thermal cycle and electromagnetic chambers, scaled to efficiently build and test satellites ranging in size from CubeSats to smallsats. The tailored fit reduces waste and optimizes energy and space, supporting the delivery of 180 satellites or more per year.
Lockheed Martin is currently developing more than 50 satellites for the SDA’s Transport Layer, which will provide military users with low-latency communication links through a resilient network of integrated capabilities from LEO. Lockheed Martin’s 10, Tranche 0 Transport Layer satellites are expected to launch this year, while its 42, Tranche 1 satellites will soon move into processing in the new factory to support a 2024 launch.
“Lockheed Martin is committed to providing advanced satellites of different sizes and capabilities to meet our customers’ needs and support their strategy to achieve greater orbital diversity,” said . “This new facility is one of many investments our company has made to lower costs and to deliver scalable solutions with increased speed and agility, to provide 21st Century Security solutions for our customers.” — Johnathon Caldwell, Vice President and General Manager, Military Space, Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin completes CDR for the SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer Satellites
Lockheed Martin’s Tranche 0 Transport Layer satellites are seen in one of the company’s processing facilities.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and the Space Development Agency (SDA) have also successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) program. The integrated system review validated that Lockheed Martin’s T1TL ground and space designs meet all mission requirements and can proceed to production.
The initial warfighting capability of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), T1TL consists of 126 space vehicles divided into six orbital planes. Lockheed Martin is building 42 of those space vehicles for the transport layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to a full range of warfighter platforms using Link-16 waveforms and laser optical intersatellite links.
During the CDR, which took place eight months after a successful preliminary design review, Lockheed Martin and SDA worked closely to thoroughly validate the company’s T1TL satellite and ground designs, to include supplier designs. The CDR included various design validation tests and a successful system optical communications terminal interoperability test, in addition to many other analyses.
For additional risk mitigation, Lockheed Martin 3D-printed a full-size replica of the Tranche 1 satellite vehicle testbed during the CDR to optimize assembly, integration and testing.
With the completion of CDR, Lockheed Martin now begins the integration and testing phase of the program, which will use the company’s new, 20,000-square-foot small satellite processing facility that is designed for high-rate delivery, hosts dedicated test chambers, and can simultaneously accommodate multiple classes of missions. T1TL will be the first program to be hosted by the new facility, which helps transform our business operations to meet our customer’s needs with speed and agility.
SDA also contracted Lockheed Martin to build 10, Tranche 0 Transport Layer (T0TL) satellites, which are ready for launch this summer. SDA’s T0TL constellation serves as the first step toward building an interoperable, connected secure mesh network to support Joint All-Domain Operations.
“Between SDA’s critical support and engagement and Lockheed Martin’s lessons learned from our work on Transport Layer Tranche 0, we were able to achieve a precise review with successful results” said . “The strength of our relationships and thoroughness of the review positions Lockheed Martin to deliver the T1TL satellites on time for SDA’s 2024 launch.” — Chris Winslett, Lockheed Martin’s Director for the SDA Transport Layer programs