WASHINGTON \u2014 Satellite manufacturer Apex has won a contract from a Japanese company to provide a spacecraft bus for a technology demonstration mission.<\/p>\n
Apex announced March 19 that it secured a contract from NEC to provide an Aries satellite bus for a mission launching in 2027. The spacecraft, operating in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 1,000 kilometers, will test optical communications technology for future satellite constellations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy fusing NEC\u2019s long-standing expertise in advanced mission payload design with Apex\u2019s standardized, innovative platform, we will redefine the speed of development, from planning to launch,\u201d Yasushi Yokoyama, general manager of the satellite constellation department at NEC, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The order is the first Apex has announced with a Japanese customer and is part of an effort by the company to broaden the market for its standardized satellite buses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a big believer that if you\u2019re building the right product, that should really hit a global market,\u201d Ian Cinnamon, chief executive of Apex, said in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been exploring the global market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Japan has been one area of emphasis, he noted, because of its growing space and defense spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cNEC specifically has been a company that I think has always been on the forefront of innovation, always looking to move fast and push the limits on what\u2019s possible,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it was a natural fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that while there has been \u201cexponentially increasing\u201d interest in Apex\u2019s satellites from U.S. customers, such as for the Space Development Agency and potential applications in the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, there is also growing demand from both government and commercial customers outside the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the core of the demand still comes from the U.S. market, specifically on the U.S. government side, but we continue to be a dual-use company that works internationally,\u201d he said. \u201cThe number of international flights I take per year has been increasing, not decreasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The contract with NEC is for a single Aries bus, which Cinnamon said will be a standard version taken off the company\u2019s assembly line. He suggested, though, that it could lead to a larger order from NEC if this initial technology demonstration mission goes well. NEC has awards from the Japanese government, including the Space Strategy Fund administered by the Japanese space agency JAXA, to study technologies for a satellite constellation using optical communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cNEC has some incredibly grand aspirations about where they want to take things,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see a lot of alignment between Apex\u2019s goals of supplying multiple systems of these with their plans as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apex is scaling up production of both the Aries bus and the larger Nova and Comet buses at its Los Angeles factory. Cinnamon said the factory should produce a couple dozen satellites this year as the company ramps up production, with an ultimate capacity of more than 200 per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re shipping buses off to customers on a weekly or monthly basis. We\u2019re continuing to really hit that stride on the manufacturing side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he said orders for those satellites are growing. One thing the company has wanted to do is produce additional spacecraft to put into storage, offering them to customers with urgent demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we keep selling the ones that we\u2019re trying to put on the shelf,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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