The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded a $34 million contract to Orbital Sciences to develop an ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Equipment (EAGLE) system for small payloads functioning at geostationary orbit, Orbital Sciences announced.
   The EAGLE spacecraft platform is based on the evolved expendable launch vehicle’s secondary payload adaptor (ESPA), which carries and deploys small rideshare satellites from United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 or Atlas 5 rockets. EAGLE aims to propel satellites or experiments to geosynchronous orbit from a transfer orbit, and keep the payloads attached and in correct position for up to a year. Orbital Sciences said the platform also could serve the same function in low Earth orbit (LEO), to where most small payloads have been launched.