ATK’s Spacecraft Systems and Services facility expansion has resulted in the addition of up to 50 new manufacturing positions and will allow the Company to meet increased demand for its premier aerospace products and technologies from government, commercial and international customers. Projected business growth forecasted for the facility could yield an additional 150 jobs in the next 12-18 months. Spacecraft Systems & Services (SSS), a division of ATK Aerospace Systems Group, provides a broad portfolio of products and services in Beltsville that include integrated satellite bus systems, world-class multidisciplinary engineering services and market leading integrated thermal control systems. ATK’s integrated thermal control systems are used by almost all U.S. government and commercial satellites. The two new facilities include an expanded manufacturing center at the Company’s Integrated Thermal System plant and a new robotic laboratory for potential customers in both the military and civil space communities. The enlarged manufacturing facility will improve production capacity by approximately 20%, add more space for work on existing contracts totaling $35 million and create up to fifty new jobs.
Among the dignitaries present at the ribbon cutting are Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer to the right, and Rob Strain, the director of the
NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.
The other newly opened facility, the Robotic Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) Lab, allows ATK to demonstrate and verify critical enabling technologies for today’s more complicated space missions. The development of technology for controlled approach and docking between multiple spacecraft supports growing customer demand for International Space Station (ISS) resupply, orbital debris removal, satellite servicing, and more. The lab uses state of the art robotic and air-bearing testbeds to simulate satellite motion and facilitate hardware and software development. The facility also supports ATK’s recently introduced satellite life extension service, ViviSat.
ATK will leverage these new facilities to form even stronger partnerships with industry and government partners across the country while strengthening relationships at the local level with customers like NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Northrop Grumman, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.