General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has expanded their space systems infrastructure with the addition of a 7,500 ft2 Class 10,000 / ISO 7 cleanroom facility in San Diego, California, that will enable high-volume Optical Communication Terminal (OCT) production — this multi-faceted facility can facilitate fabrication of up to 300 OCTs per year.
Over the last several years, GA-EMS has continued to invest in expanding its space systems capabilities with facilities in San Diego; Centennial and Englewood, Colorado; Huntsville, Alabama, Tupelo, Mississippi; and Herndon, Virgina. In total, GA-EMS has more than 144,000 ft2 dedicated to space systems engineering, manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and mission operations. In addition to hundreds of OCTs, these facilities can concurrently accommodate large-quantity fabrication of constellation-ready satellites ranging from cubesats to ESPA-Grande class satellites.
“GA-EMS is fully committed to the deployment of optical communication as the backbone of future national security space architectures,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “Leveraging 20 years of experience developing multi-domain optical technologies, GA-EMS’ low SWaP-C OCT is technologically advanced and designed such that it allows for greater production efficiencies to support large scale satellite constellation programs. The combination of a mission focused, manufacturable OCT design and large-capacity development infrastructure, means that we can meet requirements and deliver hundreds of units every year on budget and on time.”
“The GA-EMS OCT is easily integrated onto a variety of satellites providing customers with tremendous flexibility in platform configurations to drive costs down and meet mission objectives,” added Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space Systems. “In addition, the depth and diversity of our infrastructure allows us the agility to simultaneously support multiple programs of scale while maintaining the highest quality standards and deliver on schedule.”
