WASHINGTON — SpaceX on July 21 launched a Northrop Grumman robotic spacecraft designed to extend the lives of multiple satellites by installing propulsion modules in geostationary orbit.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Mission Robotic Vehicle, or MRV, and three Mission Extension Pods lifted off at 5:15 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The four spacecraft, developed by Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics subsidiary, were launched toward geosynchronous transfer orbit and will use their own propulsion systems to reach geostationary orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth.
Once there, the three pods will position themselves near the satellites they are intended to service. MRV will retrieve each pod in turn, approach a customer satellite and use its two robotic arms to install the pod on the spacecraft. It will then back away and repeat the process for the other two customers.
The mission is intended to demonstrate a more scalable form of satellite servicing than Northrop’s earlier life-extension vehicles, which remain attached to a single client for years. MRV is designed to install hardware on one satellite and then move on to others, allowing the same vehicle to perform repeated servicing missions over an expected operating life of about 15 years.
The three pods are under contract to commercial satellite operators Intelsat, which ordered two, and Australia’s Optus, which purchased the first.
MRV does not refuel the satellites. Instead, it attaches a Mission Extension Pod to the structural ring on the aft end of a spacecraft that originally connected it to its launch vehicle. The pod remains in place after MRV departs and uses its own electric thrusters to help maintain the satellite’s orbital position and manage its attitude-control system.
That can allow a satellite running low on fuel to continue operating even though no propellant is transferred into its tanks. Northrop estimates that a pod can extend the useful life of a typical geostationary communications satellite by roughly six years.
Northrop’s SpaceLogistics has already conducted life-extension missions with two Mission Extension Vehicles, MEV-1 and MEV-2. The two vehicles have completed three dockings, in 2020, 2021 and 2025, with satellites operated by Intelsat and Optus.
MRV represents the next step.
MRV and MEP payload. Credit: SpaceX
The robotic system originated under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program, known as RSGS. DARPA began the program in 2016 to combine government-developed robotic technology with a commercially owned and operated servicing spacecraft.
Space Systems Loral was selected as the original industry partner in 2017 but withdrew two years later. Northrop’s SpaceLogistics took over the commercial side of the project in 2020.
DARPA funded development of the robotic payload, including the arms, while Northrop financed the spacecraft and the work needed to turn the government technology into a commercial service.
The U.S. Space Force has said it plans to seek access to MRV once the spacecraft becomes operational, treating it as a commercial resource that government customers could call upon when needed. Northrop has not publicly disclosed any government contracts to purchase MRV services.
After completing the first three pod installations, Northrop plans to launch additional Mission Extension Pods for future customers while keeping MRV in orbit to retrieve and install them.