Blue Canyon wins $14 million contract for deep-space inspector satellite – SpaceNews

Blue Canyon has to deliver a small satellite bus that can operate and maneuver for up to three years in orbits beyond GEO

WASHINGTON — Blue Canyon Technologies won a $14.6 million contract to produce a small inspector satellite for operations beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit.

According to a Nov. 22 announcement, Blue Canyon was selected by the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a satellite under AFRL’s Space Situational Awareness Micro-Satellite Bus program. The company has to deliver by February 2023 a small satellite bus that can operate and maneuver for up to three years in orbits beyond GEO and can support a broad range of payloads. 

Blue Canyon, based in Lafayette, Colorado, is a small satellite manufacturer. In December 2020 it was acquired by Raytheon Technologies.

The Space Situational Awareness Micro-Satellite Bus was a competitive award under a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research program. The goal is to produce a small space situational awareness satellite system with significant orbital maneuverability so it can move across orbits.