Northrop Grumman's Enhanced Polar System – Recapitalization satellite.
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully handed over mission operations of Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) satellites and completed activation of U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command’s (SSC) two Enhanced Polar System – Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads, hosted aboard ASBM. The mission launched in August from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
- The two ASBM satellites host payloads for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and Viasat, which will expand X-band and Ka-band connectivity across the Arctic region, and the Norwegian Radiation Monitor, provided by Norwegian company IDEAS for the European Commission, that will provide data on operations in triple-apogee Highly Elliptical Orbit.
- The EPS-R payloads on ASBM provide protected military satellite communications for U.S. and allied forces operating in the Northern Polar region.
- EPS-R significantly increases the capacity of the existing Enhanced Polar System (EPS) payloads and extends the mission until next-generation protected MILSATCOM systems come online in the mid-2030s.
The EPS-R payloads are operated by the Northrop Grumman-led Control and Planning Segment ground system, which has been upgraded with a common baseline software to operate both EPS and EPS-R, eliminating the need for training on two separate control systems.
