MDA Space Missions

Infobox Company
company_name = MDA Space Missions
company_
company_type = Subsidiary
foundation = MD Robotics (1999), Dynacs (2002)
location = Richmond, BC and Houston, Texas
key_people = Dan King (Director of Orbital Robotics at MD Robotics), Stan Starr (Chief Engineer and Deputy Program Director at Dynacs)
industry =
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parent = MacDonald Dettwiler
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homepage = [http://sm.mdacorporation.com/ sm.mdacorporation.com]
footnotes =

[http://sm.mdacorporation.com/ MDA Space Missions] is an operating unit of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, comprised of the following wholly owned subsidiaries:

* MD Robotics, a robotic engineering company based in Brampton, Ontario.
* [http://www.alliancespacesystems.com/index.php Alliance Spacesystems] , a space robotics company based in Pasadena, California, Boulder, Colorado and Signal Hill, California.
* Dynacs Military and Defense Inc, an engineering systems company based in Houston, Texas, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Albuquerque.
* [http://www.orbitaloptics.com Orbital Optics] , a spin out company from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) based in Chilton, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.

In addition to design, safety, reliability, and quality assurance engineering services, MDA's contributions include:
* Canadarm
* Canadarm2 for the International Space Station
* RADARSAT-1, the first commercial radar earth observation satellite
* RADARSAT-2, the world's most advanced civilian radar earth observation satellite
* Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator also known as "Dextre" or the "Canada Hand"
* The robotic arm and weather station on Phoenix mission to Mars

In January 2005, the unit won a high profile project (valued at $154 million USD) to provide a rescue and repair solution for the Hubble Space Telescope. [cite web|url=http://sm.mdacorporation.com/news/pr05012005.html|title=MDA Space Missions - News|accessdate=2006-07-15] The contract was later canceled by NASA.

MDA is on the SpaceX team, one of the two corporate teams chosen by NASA on March 3, 2006 for a competition to develop crew and cargo launch services for the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule segment of the project would be berthed to the space station by using Canadarm2 in the final approach phase.

External links

* [http://sm.mdacorporation.com/ MDA Space Missions home page]
* [http://www.mdacorporation.com/ MacDonald Dettwiler home page]

References