MDA said Florida-based Airbus OneWeb Satellites has picked it to build antennas for the new portfolio of Arrow commercial small satellites (pictured).
“We are pleased to be selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites to support important applications for space and communications constellations,” said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA.
“This contract represents another opportunity to demonstrate MDA’s best-in-class satellite design and manufacturing capabilities.”
Airbus describes Arrow as its “innovative, responsive, versatile and affordable platform for high-performance space applications”. The satellites will be used to collect and track radio sensing data, for Earth observation, machine-to-machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) information, low-data-rate communications and messaging.
Airbus OneWeb Satellites is the factory in Florida, close to Cape Canaveral, that is building OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites – a total of 648, plus some more for those that were due to be launched at the end of February from Baikonur but were confiscated by the Russians after the invasion of Ukraine.
That production line is likely to be coming to an end soon, especially as OneWeb has agreed to be taken over by Eutelsat.
However, the Arrow satellite design is derived from the OneWeb satellites, of which 428 are now in service.
Airbus OneWeb Satellites makes satellites for Airbus customers in Florida, said the company, and for Airbus US Space & Defense, in support of US government programmes.
