ESPA-Grande Satellite to Demonstrate Space Situational Awareness

Advanced Space LLC has contracted General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) to build an ESPA-Grande class satellite and conduct payload integration and space vehicle testing for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Oracle spacecraft programme.

AFRL’s Oracle programme is intended to demonstrate advanced techniques to detect and track objects near the Moon that cannot be viewed optically from Earth, or from satellites in traditional orbits, such as geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO). It will demonstrate space situational awareness and Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) techniques, using advanced technologies capable of detecting and tracking objects in cislunar space. The anticipated launch date is late 2025.

“On-orbit capability to generate greater space situational awareness has wide application as space exploration and efforts to return to the Moon continue to accelerate,” explained Scott Forney, GA-EMS President. “We are leveraging our standard GA- 500 satellite bus, which is being developed for the United States Space Force (USSF) under the EO/IR Weather System (EWS) contract, to build an optimized spacecraft integrated with Leidos’ high-performance space optical payload and a customer–provided green propulsion system to fulfill Oracle’s two-year mission demonstration lifecycle.”

“Our GA-500 bus is part of an expanding portfolio of configurable, flight-proven ESPA-class satellites offering customers greater versatility to launch missions rapidly and efficiently into space,” added Gregg Burgess, VP of GA-EMS Space Systems. “The cislunar region continues to be a strategic area of focus for us to leverage our expertise in satellite design, manufacturing, and payload development and integration to support new missions operating in the space from the Earth to the Moon.”

The Oracle project was awarded through the AFRL using the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) OTA vehicle, which is managed by NSTXL.