Posted: Sun, Apr 18, 2021, 11:17 AM ET (1517 GMT)
Northrop Grumman's satellite life extension spacecraft docked with an Intelsat communications satellite Monday. Northrop's Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) 2 docked with the Intelsat 10-02 spacecraft at 1:34 pm EDT (1734 GMT), the companies announced later that afternoon. MEV-2 will extend the life of Intelsat 10-02, launched in 2004 and running low on fuel, for five years before undocking and moving on to another satellite. The docking took place after weeks of proximity operations, and MEV-2 came close to attempting to dock several times this past month. Northrop says the success of MEV-2, and the ongoing MEV-1 mission extending the life of another Intelsat satellite, allows the company to move on to a second generation of on-orbit servicing technologies.
