Lockheed Martin establishes new company to a detected market gap, lunar and navigation services for the moon.
Amidst growing numbers of government and commercial lunar missions, Lockheed Martin detects an opportunity to expand its services to the moon. Lockheed Martin announced March 28th that it has created Crescent Space Services LLC which will give support to other spacecraft that are doing operations around and on the moon.
This service has been called Parsec and entails a network of satellites which will provide services like communication relay and navigational data. The satellites in question are designed and built by Lockheed using Curio.
Curio is just a base platform. Designed with the concept of SmallSats being the future of the commercial spacecraft industry. The hardware and software are already in place for Lockheed Martin to take on its intended target market.
NASA is currently using the Curio platform for its Janus mission which will visit a binary asteroid system. Both of these satellites are equipped with a camera both in infrared and visible light. Lunar Trailblazer’s goal is to find water on the moon. This satellite will orbit for a year mapping the form and distribution of water on the moon.
These satellites aren’t very big. The satellite pictured is about the size of a mini fridge, while Janus, the spacecraft that will be accompanying Lunar Trailblazer during the asteroid observation part of the mission, is the size of a suitcase.
The Parsec line of spacecraft feature of course Curio, the SmallSat bus. The SmartSat software which allows configurability while the satellite is in orbit. The COMPASS/Horizon products that allow for automated mission planning and satellites command and control.
Lockheed Martin seems to be making a very good business move by expanding their domain with a subsidiary that will provide lunar communication and navigation. It will be interesting to see where this company goes and the great science and utility that will come with a standardized satellite platform.
