Final preparations of the Altair Pathfinder satellite at Millennium Space Systems vehicle was shipped to NanoRacks on December 14. Photo: Millennium Space Systems

[Via Satellite 12-22-2016] Millennium Space Systems has completed the development of and shipped its first Altair satellite, a pre-production pathfinder spacecraft designed to demonstrate advanced avionics, guidance and control, additive manufacturing, power systems, RF communications and onboard processing technologies. Altair Pathfinder will be launched on an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission, currently manifest in March 2017 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NanoRacks will provide the launch services; Once onboard the ISS, U.S. astronauts will release Altair Pathfinder within 30 to 60 days.

Altair Pathfinder took less than 12 months from program inception to final ship date, according to Jimmy Downs, chief engineer at Millennium Space Systems. It was created to demonstrate next-generation hardware and software technologies to realize new mission capabilities previously thwarted by excessive cost, schedule and/or technology unavailability. Many of these technologies successfully transitioned from the company’s work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the SeeMe Program.