Magellan Aerospace Awarded $110 Million Contract for RADARSAT Constellation Manufacture
Magellan Aerospace Corporation (Magellan) announced today the award of a $110 million Cdn. contract from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) of Richmond, BC for the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellite bus manufacture. The RCM is comprised of three low earth orbit spacecraft, each carrying a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload.
“RCM is one of the largest space projects that has been undertaken by Canada to date, and Magellan is proud to be a Tier One subcontractor on the mission,” said James Butyniec, President and Chief Executive Officer of Magellan Aerospace. “Canada is one of the world’s first space-faring nations and national programs like RCM are critical for keeping our domestic space technology capabilities relevant as well as providing benefits for Canadians.”
RCM is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) mission that will provide twenty-four-hour-a-day C-Band data to augment and extend the data that RADARSAT-2 users currently rely on. The mission will support maritime surveillance (ship detection, ice monitoring and oil spill detection), disaster management and ecosystem monitoring. The primary areas of coverage are Canada and its surrounding Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic maritime areas. The launch is planned in 2018.
Magellan Aerospace will manufacture the three spacecraft buses, including the control systems, on-board computers, power generation and distribution systems, electronics, wiring, and on-board communication links with the ground. Since 2005, Magellan has been awarded the initial Phase A, B, and C Preliminary and Detailed Design contracts leading up to this current manufacturing phase (Phase D). This phase, including the complete bus assembly, integration, and test, will be carried out at Magellan’s facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba where other CSA missions including CASSIOPE and SCISAT-1 were also manufactured.
The RCM bus is based on Magellan’s MAC-200 small satellite bus that was first developed for the CSA’s CASSIOPE program. The MAC-200 design has been upgraded to accommodate the large, deployable C-band SAR antenna and to increase the power subsystem capacity for the radar payload. New GPS and propulsion subsystems have been added to support the precision orbit maintenance requirements. Upgrades have also been made to the bus avionics to support the seven-year mission lifetime.
Magellan Aerospace:
Magellan Aerospace is a global, integrated aerospace company that provides complex assemblies and systems solutions to aircraft and engine manufacturers, and defence and space agencies worldwide. Magellan designs, engineers, and manufactures aeroengine and aerostructure assemblies and components for aerospace markets, advanced products for military and space markets, industrial power generation, and specialty products. Magellan is a public company whose shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: MAL), with operating units throughout Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Poland.
