Space Control Platform MDA Midnight Unveiled by MDA Space
Designed to Defend and Protect the Space Domain
A space control platform for defense organizations to defend and protect the space domain has been introduced by MDA Space at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. MDA MIDNIGHT is a maneuverable spacecraft that employs high-reliability rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) to detect, identify, counter and deter threats to critical space assets and orbits.
“With new and emerging threats from adversaries, the critical space infrastructure that we all depend on requires greater protection.”
Mike Greenley, MDA Space
The spacecraft can also be used to augment existing military missions through on-orbit surveillance, asset relocation and satellite refueling. Equipped with a suite of active and passive payload capabilities and world-leading robotics, MDA MIDNIGHT turns space domain awareness into actionable decision-making, enabling defense organizations to maintain operational continuity in the increasingly contested domain.
“With new and emerging threats from adversaries, the critical space infrastructure that we all depend on requires greater protection,” said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. “Backed by 40 years of on-orbit robotics operations, decades of mission planning and satellite operations, advanced digital technologies and our high-volume commercial production capacity, MDA MIDNIGHT brings together the elements required for this critical mission, helping national and international defense organizations safeguard the space domain on which billions rely.”
With nations around the world increasingly relying on satellites for national security and economic prosperity, a report on Global Counterspace Capabilities from the Secure World Foundation indicates that a growing number of countries are identifying the need to develop space control, or ‘bodyguard’, satellites to mitigate the growing threat landscape. The importance of the space domain was also recently recognized in Canada, with the federal government declaring space as a key sovereign capability. In this context, MDA MIDNIGHT is designed to address emerging customer requirements by providing defence organizations with flight-proven technology in a mission-ready solution that can be rapidly configured, built and deployed to respond to new and emerging threats in space.
The initial MDA MIDNIGHT mission is designed to rendezvous with multiple collaborative assets in low Earth orbit and employ a range of protective and defensive capabilities, including:
On-orbit inspection and reporting of satellite status
Electronic counter measures detection, attribution and mitigation
Rendezvous and proximity operations, cooperative satellite capture and release
De-orbiting of a customer’s non-operational asset
On the ground, operational procedures for MDA MIDNIGHT will be supported by an established flight controller team with unparalleled experience conducting over 100 free-flyer captures and decades of robotics operations on-orbit. For select customers, MDA MIDNIGHT can be operated through an established MDA Space Mission Control Center.
MDA MIDNIGHT also leverages recent advancements and investments in the company’s diverse product suite, including MDA SKYMAKER commercial robotics and MDA AURORA satellite bus platform.
“At MDA Space, our technology and our team have millions of hours of experience planning and conducting on-orbit operations,” said Holly Johnson, Vice President of Robotics and Space Operations at MDA Space. “As we bring this leadership to serve space defence customers, we are actively seeking military partnerships to collaborate on upcoming mission profiles and timing, as well as commercial payload partners to augment our suite of on-orbit capabilities.”