Development test vehicle passes all structural qualification tests.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Dec. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Millennium Space Systems, a leader in development of affordable high-performance spacecraft, today announced the completion of structural qualification of its AQUILA M8 satellite structure. AQUILA M8—under development for a confidential customer—joins Millennium's AQUILA platform product line, supporting missions of up to 3000 kg total mass in low, medium and geostationary Earth orbits (LEO, MEO and GEO). Millennium manufactured a dedicated AQUILA M8 test vehicle (DTV) and subjected it to a full suite of dynamic and static structural qualification tests at the National Technical Systems test facility in Santa Clarita, California.
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Engineers from NTS and Millennium collaborated throughout the month-long test campaign to develop novel test stand configurations for the massive platform. The successful qualification tests mean that the AQUILA M8 platform can be safely launched on any Evolved Expandable Launch Vehicle (EELV) class booster.
Scott Dow, Millennium's Director of Assembly, Test and Launch operations stated that, "All of the structural modes measured during testing matched our pre-test analyses and models. Based on these excellent model correlations, we will now manufacture our flight model with very high confidence."
Millennium designed the AQUILA M8 to support imaging, communications and science missions with large payloads requiring precise pointing. The fully loaded 3,000-kg platform includes orbit-raising propulsion that can transfer the satellite from a typical elliptical geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) to its final GEO orbital slot 36,000 km above the equator. The first flight model AQUILA M8 is presently under construction at the new Millennium factory in El Segundo, California, and will be launched for a confidential customer in 2016. The AQUILA product line also includes the M1, M2 and M4 platforms, each tailored to a particular payload mass range.
About Millennium Space Systems
Millennium Space Systems is a privately held, employee-owned company founded in November 2001, providing alternative and relevant solutions to today's aerospace challenges. The company designs flight systems and develops mission and system solutions for the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense and National Aeronautics & Space Administration. For more information, visit www.millennium-space.com.
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