Terran Orbital Achieves Milestone Payment for 300 Spacecraft

Terran Orbital Corporation has announced that it has received a milestone payment and completed the screening of industrial partners for its $2.4 billion contract with Rivada Space Networks. The contract will see Terran Orbital design, build and deploy 288 low-Earth orbit satellites and 12 “spare” satellites, weighing approximately 500 kg each. The company will also integrate the communication payload and develop portions of the ground segment. The deployment will begin with the launch of a Terran Orbital-developed demonstrator mission by the end of 2024, consisting of four satellites across two orbital planes. The mission will support the verification of gateway-less transmissions from one user to another, routed within a small network of four satellites in space.