Harris Corporation Awarded $42 Million Contract to Provide All-Weather Imaging Payload Onboard New Military Spacecraft

MELBOURNE, FL - Harris Corporation announced in a press release that it has been awarded a 30-month, $42 million contract by Sierra Nevada Corporation to supply antenna and radar electronics for a satellite that will provide military commanders in the field with timely, high-resolution radar imagery of the earth's surface regardless of weather conditions or time of day.

Harris will design, build and integrate the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite payload for Sierra Nevada as part of NASA's Rapid Response Space Works and Modular Space Vehicles program for the US Department of Defense's Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office. ORS is a joint NASA/DoD initiative with the charter to field modular payloads rapidly and inexpensively.

The payload architecture, designed to support a new family of modular military satellites, offers flexibility to support multiple missions with minimal changes in the basic design. SAR is the second payload to be developed by the ORS Office and will produce high-resolution radar imagery of the earth's surface, even during darkness or inclement weather.

"Harris has decades of experience producing trusted solutions for satellite antennas and electronics, and we are applying this capability to small yet highly advanced payloads," said Bill Gattle, vice president, Space Communications Programs. "This contract brings the benefits of our proven imaging technology to warfighters while also furthering our goal to become a major presence in the small-payload community."

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries.