SEOPS Space is providing the capacity, mission management and integration services for EPIC Athena, a 110 kg pathfinder spacecraft funded by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Department of Defense’s U.S. Space Force (USSF)’s Space Systems Command (SSC).
EPIC Athena represents the fifth of six spacecraft to launch under the Rideshare 2024-Blaze contract between SEOPS and the USSF’s SSC.
As a secondary rideshare payload on NASA and the University of Iowa‘s upcoming TRACERS mission, EPIC Athena is a Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program mission containing a DoD experiment.
SEOPS has provided integration and mission services for more than 400 satellite deployments, including for the U.S. Space Force, NRO and NASA, as well as commercial organizations around the world.
The spacecraft is slated to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 later this month from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The mission is a technology pathfinder of NovaWurks’ Hyper-Integrated Satlet (HISat) disaggregated satellite platform for making critical Earth science sensing measurements. Equally important is the goal to prove out technical partnerships and processes between multiple federal agencies to create a simple, rapid and highly integrated bus-payload system as a more affordable way to launch missions on a reduced schedule.
NovaWurks designs, manufactures and operates satellites based on the HISats architecture, or SLEGO™, at its production and engineering facilities in Southern California.
It’s always a privilege to work with the federal government on missions, and this one was particularly rewarding because of its goal to advance rapid response capabilities,” said Chad Brinkley, chief executive officer of SEOPS. “It’s in our wheelhouse and aligned with our goals of providing space access without compromise to organizations around the world.”
There’s a lot of promise riding on this spacecraft’s shoulders,” said Dr. Roberta Ewart, chief technology officer for the SSC. “NASA, the Space Force and NOAA have strategically aligned efforts to gain wisdom from the EPIC Athena Sensorcraft, from demonstrating key capabilities to spearheading efficiencies and new ways of collaborating across the federal government, all while creating a transformational advantage for our country.”