[Satnews] Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B) Space and Defense Group has shipped the Satellite Dispenser to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) to support the launch of eleven ORBCOMM (Nasdaq: ORBC) Generation 2 (OG2) satellites.

The launch will occur in the coming weeks from Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) atop a dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9, completing ORBCOMM’s next generation satellite constellation.  A Moog dispenser supported the previous successful launch of six ORBCOMM OG2 satellites on July 14, 2014.

Both launches rely on a modular Satellite Dispenser built on multiple Moog EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) rings. The Dispenser protects the entire payload “stack” from launch vehicle vibrations and shock using a Moog SoftRide vibration isolation system. In addition, Moog provided the Dispenser electrical harness and will be performing the integration of the Dispenser/spacecraft assembly at the SpaceX CCAFS facility.

The Moog ESPA, first launched in 2007, has established standards for secondary payloads, spawning the standard of “ESPA class” spacecraft. This versatile design can be used for Ride Share opportunities, multiple payload launches as with OG2, a modular spacecraft structural bus as with LCROSS, or the platform for a “free flyer” as for the Air Force EAGLE program. ESPA has enabled missions from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to the Moon.

The Moog SoftRide system has flown more than 30 times since 1998 on ten different launch vehicles, isolating spacecraft and payloads from the rough launch vibration, shock, and structure-borne acoustic environment associated with the launch.  The SoftRide system uses a series of isolators ‘tuned’ to the launch vehicle environment and properties of the payload, in this case three ESPAs and eleven OG2 spacecraft. The SoftRide system allows the spacecraft design to be focused on the mission and not the first several minutes of the launch.

Moog engineers and technicians will be performing launch site integration of the spacecraft to the ESPA/SoftRide Dispenser in the next few weeks.  Moog engineers will perform the mechanical integration of the OG2 spacecraft to the ESPAs and electrical harnessing and checkouts for the dispensing system that deploys the spacecraft into the correct orbits.