Maxar Technologies Inc.
10/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/30/2024 07:51
Delivering the Most Advanced Earth Observation Capabilities On Or...
This post is part of a four-part series on the industry-leading innovation behind Maxar's WorldView Legion™ satellites. To read the innovation blogs, please go here.
The miniaturization of electronics has always been an important step in unlocking the full potential of new technologies. For example, the miniaturization of computers and cellphones has fundamentally transformed society and modern life, allowing us to tap into the power of advanced computing and the internet anywhere, anytime.
The same phenomenon is happening in space and in the Earth observation industry, with Maxar and the WorldView Legion program leading the way.
Maxar's WorldView Legion satellites represent a new category of spacecraft: our smallest-ever design that offers the most advanced Earth observation capabilities on orbit. This achievement was made possible through innovations that allowed for the miniaturization of a wide range of components.
To set some context, the value of miniaturization in the satellite industry is twofold. First, it helps reduce the number of launches as you're able to launch more satellites at once since they're lighter and smaller in size. In turn, smaller satellites are more agile on orbit, allowing them to collect more imagery at a faster pace.
However, smaller isn't always better. While there are some valuable use cases for smaller satellites, there are almost always major tradeoffs in capability that limit the potential impact of these satellites over the long term. In Earth observation, for example, the tradeoffs relate primarily to image resolution, communications capabilities and guidance, navigation and controls.
To truly advance satellite technology, we need to design smaller spacecraft that can deliver the same or better capability, allowing for the advantages of miniaturization without sacrificing performance. That's exactly what the WorldView Legion program accomplished, specifically setting new benchmarks for miniaturizing camera electronics and bus electronics.
For the camera electronics, the program team worked closely with Raytheon to reduce the size of the camera electronics and the weight of the large-aperture telescope. Maxar's existing constellation delivers industry-leading 30 cm native resolution imagery with the capability to enhance that imagery to 15 cm HD and maintaining that image quality was imperative. Leveraging new technologies from Raytheon, the team was able to reduce the size, weight and power of the entire instrument between 2-3 times compared to Maxar's legacy Earth observation satellites while preserving image quality.
The program wanted to achieve similar results for the satellite's bus electronics, which include radio frequency communications, avionics and the battery and power system. Maxar has engineering specialists in each of these key areas, and the team applied many of the same electrical engineering principles used for the camera electronics to successfully shrink the bus components by up to a factor of two in these areas.
In the end, these innovations enabled an equally powerful, yet smaller and more agile spacecraft that will set a new standard for the industry.
The best Earth imaging starts with the best space infrastructure
We're building something unprecedented-WorldView Legion. This new generation of satellites will use smaller components to collect the same high-quality Earth imagery that customers expect from Maxar.
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