Artist rendition of an Ovzon satellite. Photo: Ovzon

Maxar Technologies began production on a Legion-class Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite for Ovzon, a company located in the United States and Sweden that works to increase mobile broadband connectivity in underserved regions.

Ovzon selected Maxar in December 2018 to build its first satellite, Ovzon 3, which aims to provide extremely versatile mobile broadband communications for small vehicles, aircraft and users on-the-move. Now that Ovzon has secured financing to build the satellite, Maxar will begin building it in its Palo Alto, California manufacturing facility. The satellite will be based on the mid-size Legion-class platform, formerly called the SSL-500, and is expected to be launched by SpaceX in 2021.

“Maxar’s Legion-class platform offers the benefits of the company’s proven technology and performance from the 1300-class satellite bus with a lower cost and smaller form factor,” said Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Space Solutions. “We’re delighted to collaborate closely with Ovzon on the development of the first satellite in their architecture, which will deliver better communications from space for a better world here on Earth.”