Redwire and Moog contract signing: Chester Crone, left, and Mike Gold, right. Photo: Brooke Bryand Creative for Access Intelligence

Officials from Redwire and Moog cemented a recent $12.8 million contract to integrate Redwire’s Extensible Low-Profile Solar Array (ELSA) wings with Moog’s largest satellite bus on Tuesday during SATShow Week.

The agreement marks Redwire’s first sale of its new high-performance, low-mass space power solution since the product was announced earlier this month. The first user will be a national security customer supporting a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) mission.

“We are in an existential struggle with China and … power is going to be key to winning that battle, supporting the warfighter and protecting our freedoms,” said Mike Gold, president of Redwire Space, during the ceremony, and indicated the agreement brings the U.S. one step closer to achieving that advantage in space. “We’re so grateful to have a partner who shares the entrepreneurial spirit that we have at Redwire,” he added.

ELSA has been baselined as a standard component of Moog’s Meteor ESPA grande class satellite bus. The 700-kg bus is the approximate size of a hot tub and supports all orbits, LEO, Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Orbit (GEO). It supports a diverse range of missions and flight profiles, including pathfinder constellation missions and other disaggregated architectures.

“Innovation is key to staying ahead of the adversary and when you have an industry partner like Redwire bringing innovation to your solution, it just makes it so much easier to do your job,” said Chester Crone, director of Business Development at Moog.

According to a Redwire news release, ELSA expands Redwire’s power technology portfolio to support customers with low to medium-power applications across all orbits, including volume production programs with faster delivery timelines.

Following the ceremony, Gold acknowledged that the White House has indicated the need for the next-generation of space development and this collaboration reflects that priority.

Early integration efforts are already underway, noted Crone, who added, “Next year we start integrating the product on our bus.