What offshore satellite programs have gone through the facility?
The DFL played a key role in Spar Aerospace landing its first international prime contract for a communications satellite system. The contract called for the design, building and testing of two communications satellites plus associated ground support equipment for Brazil. BRASILSAT S1 and S2 were fully integrated and environmentally tested at the DFL. The DFL was also chosen for the final assembly and the majority of the environmental testing of the European Space Agency’s Large Satellite Program, OLYMPUS. Because OLYMPUS was a novel satellite, (i.e., the first design of its kind in the world), it required that in addition to the flight model spacecraft, two qualification models be tested, a structural and a thermal model. Testing of the structural and thermal models began in 1985 and flight model testing in 1987. The spacecraft was finally launched in 1989.
