Northrop Grumman has signed a four-year contract extension with Intelsat to continue providing in-orbit extension services for satellites.
🛰️ Intelsat extends satellite life with Northrop Grumman's MEV | Space industry update 🛰️
The extension will result in geosynchronous satellite IS-10-02 ultimately getting another nine years of life thanks to Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) 2. MEV-1 is currently docked with IS-901, which will be transported to a graveyard lane. MEV-1 will then depart to assist another satellite.
MEV-1 launched in 2019 and docked with IS-901 in 2020. In 2021, the Northrop Grumman team went further and sent MEV-2 to rendezvous with another Intelsat satellite, IS-10-02.
IS-10-02 was the first operational communications satellite to receive several years of life from an MEV.
