On December 3, Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that it has successfully handed over mission operations of Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) satellites and completed activation of U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command’s (SSC) two Enhanced Polar System – Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads, hosted aboard ASBM. The mission launched in August from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Blake Bullock, vice president, military space systems, Northrop Grumman, said, “Thanks to a bold vision from our customers — and enabled by Northrop Grumman’s end-to-end capabilities, deep mission understanding and unmatched MILSATCOM legacy — our service members and allies can now count on reliable, secure communications in this strategically important region while next-generation systems are developed.”
ASBM is a historic partnership between Space Norway and the U.S. Space Force, marking the first time an operational U.S. military payload is hosted on an international commercial space mission. This first-of-its-kind accomplishment is the latest chapter in Northrop Grumman’s long history of supporting protected MILSATCOM missions. The company has developed, built and delivered protected MILSATCOM payloads for every protected MILSATCOM program since the Milstar program, which launched starting in the 1990s.
The EPS-R payloads are operated by the Northrop Grumman-led Control and Planning Segment ground system, which has been upgraded with a common baseline software to operate both EPS and EPS-R, eliminating the need for training on two separate control systems.
Source: Northrop Grumman
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