Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies announced Nov. 2, 2022, that its ESPA Grande Saturn spacecraft bus will be a part of the maiden QS-1 mission of Quantum Space in October 2024.
Blue Canyon Technologies is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies.
QS-1 will fly in cislunar space primarily around the two Earth-Moon-Lagrange Points 1 and 2, or EM-L1 and EM-L2, to establish commercial operations for Quantum. Key mission objectives will include producing space domain awareness data products, hosting customer payloads, advanced cislunar navigation methods and autonomous station keeping. The mission will leverage commercial ground station networks for space-to-ground communication. Mission and payload control will be conducted from a Quantum control center.
“Our Saturn product, with key enhancements for deep space, will provide Quantum Space with an architecture that has been designed specifically for these types of missions – a quiet, stable, agile platform to optimize use of the Quantum suite of instruments,” said Jeff Schrader, president, Blue Canyon Technologies.
In addition to BCT’s Saturn product being on the QS-1 mission, the company will also carry Quantum customer payloads to cislunar space.
Blue Canyon Technologies has demonstrated its robust production line with recent deliveries of multiple Saturn-class buses with more bus deliveries to follow by end of the year. These deliveries are a result of a successful, repeatable integration and environmental test campaign at BCT’s facilities.
The Saturn-class buses include advanced propulsion, a robust power system, command and data handling, radio frequency communications and dedicated payload interfaces capable of hosting a variety of payload phenomenologies at in the LEO, GEO, cislunar and deep space orbital regimes.
The Saturn-class bus product line will continue to provide high-performance, versatile platforms for commercial, civil, and DOD customers on a rapid cadence.