Overview

Orbital is one of the industry's leading providers of satellites used to conduct Earth and space science missions and in-orbit technology demonstrations. Over the past three decades, Orbital has delivered over 145 small satellites for national security, commercial communications, Earth and space science, remote imaging and technology demonstration missions.

With the acquisition of the satellite manufacturing business of General Dynamics, the company has added advanced medium-class defense and scientific spacecraft to our existing satellite product lines. Our flight-proven spacecraft can support a variety of payloads and are highly reliable, having amassed nearly 1000 years of in-orbit experience. 

Earth and Space Science

Working hand-in-hand with Principal Investigators and NASA, we have developed affordable and reliable spacecraft busses designed to support a variety of Earth and space science payloads and missions. Current programs include the NASA-funded Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICE SAT-2) and Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2, missions.

Recent and past programs have included the joint NASA/USGS Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), and the NASA-funded Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Dawn planetary spacecraft, Fermi Gamma Ray Observatory, Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), Glory, Swift Gamma Ray Burst Observatory, and Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) missions. For the National Space Program Office (NSPO) of Taiwan, Republic of China, Orbital provided the six micro satellite FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC constellation.

Technology Demonstration

Orbital has also been a key provider of small satellites used to demonstrate and test new technologies. Our flight-proven and reliable spacecraft busses are ideal for short duration missions to test and validate new technologies in space.