WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin is looking to team up with more commercial space companies as it aims to stay ahead of the curve in areas like intelligence, surveillance, communications, and small satellites, a senior executive said March 19.
“We’re looking for strategic partners,” said Robert Lightfoot, president of Lockheed Martin Space. “We’re interested in talking with anyone who has an advantage in those areas from a space perspective.”
Lightfoot spoke with SpaceNews at the Satellite 2024 conference.
The $67 billion aerospace and defense giant wants to work with commercial companies with expertise in intelligence and surveillance payloads, as well as communications payloads for satellites, as it looks to meet growing government demand for resilient space-based capabilities.
Lightfoot highlighted partnerships Lockheed has already forged through venture investments in companies like launch provider ABL Space; positioning, navigation and timing startup Xona Space Systems, and small satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital.
Lockheed Martin on March 1 put forth a proposal to acquire Terran Orbital, though Lightfoot did not comment on the status of the deal. He did, however, emphasize Lockheed Martin’s major push to grow its small and medium satellite business.
The company uses Terran Orbital’s satellite buses to build small satellites for the U.S. Space Force as part of the Space Development Agency’s proliferated mesh network of satellites in low Earth orbit.
Space tech demonstrations
Lockheed Martin’s internal R&D division is funding small satellite technology demonstrations. The latest, called Pony Express 2, launched two small satellites this month to test mesh networking in orbit.
“What we’re hearing from the customer is that they need data faster, they need resiliency in space,” Lightfoot said, referring to the U.S. government’s demands.
Testing new tech via small satellite demos, he said, allows…
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