Apex, the Los Angeles-based spacecraft bus platform manufacturing company, today announced Nova, its ESPA-Grande class satellite bus platform supporting payloads ranging from 200 to 500 kg.
Nova deliveries will begin in Q3 2025 and are focused on meeting the needs of operational proliferated LEO missions, including the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA) architecture and classified programs. Similar to Apex's Aries bus, Nova is designed with multiple configuration packages. Nova is offered in base and heavy configuration packages, with the base package fitting in a SpaceX Falcon 9 XL Rideshare envelope. When configured with the full suite of features, Nova can deliver over 2.5kw OAP to 500kg of payload.
As the U.S. Department of Defense's and other government customers' demand to launch new satellites ever increases, Nova and the other buses in Apex's product line are well positioned to help the US and allied nations compete in the congested space domain. Apex's differentiated productized approach to satellite bus manufacturing will reduce barriers for the development and exploration of space.
Nova is Apex's third satellite bus product available to customers. It follows Aries, which successfully launched on March 4, 2024, and GEO Aries, the first productized satellite bus for geostationary orbit. As a mission driven organization that enables governments and companies around the world to further develop and explore space, Nova will help deliver on Apex's core principles of standardization, production at scale, and rapid delivery for customers.
