Solar arrays being built for an undisclosed national security satellite program have passed a critical design review, according to a news release from Redwire.
The review clears the way for manufacturing and integration of the arrays, called ELSA, with the METEOR satellite bus built by Moog Inc. Redwire is developing ELSA under a contract with Moog announced in March 2026, according to the release. Under that agreement, Redwire is responsible for the system design, manufacturing, testing and flight hardware delivery of the ELSA solar array wings for a national security satellite program operating in low Earth orbit. Neither the customer nor the specific program has been disclosed.
Moog has also baselined ELSA as a standard component of its METEOR ESPA-Grande satellite bus, according to the release. Redwire describes the bus as all-orbit capable, supporting a range of missions and flight profiles, including pathfinder constellation missions and other disaggregated architectures.
The design review confirmed ELSA’s design meets customer requirements for the program, Redwire said. The company says the arrays are intended for customers who need to minimize stowed volume and mass while remaining competitive with conventional solar arrays on performance and price. According to Redwire, the design delivers 50% more power by volume than traditional solar arrays; the release does not specify which arrays are used as the baseline for that comparison. Redwire also says ELSA is built for volume production, with a modular design intended to shorten delivery times and lower cost.
Redwire describes itself as a market leader in space power solutions and cites a 100% on-orbit success rate for its solar arrays on missions including the International Space Station and NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test. Redwire-built Roll-Out Solar Arrays have flown on both missions; DART’s kinetic-impact demonstration was declared successful by NASA in 2022, and Redwire’s ISS arrays have remained in operation since installation.
No timeline for manufacturing completion or delivery of the ELSA hardware to Moog was included in the release.