Moog taps Redwire to provide solar arrays for Meteor
Moog Inc. has selected Redwire Corporation to provide Extensible Low‑Profile Solar Array (ELSA) wings for integration with its METEOR ESPA‑Grande class satellite bus under a $12.8 million contract awarded in March 2026, with the arrays destined for a low Earth orbit mission supporting an undisclosed national security customer. The agreement, announced during industry events this week, marks the first commercial sale of Redwire’s new ELSA power system and establishes the product as a baseline component of the METEOR platform. Redwire’s contract encompasses delivery of the high‑performance, low‑mass solar wings that will generate spacecraft power, supplementing the bus’s capabilities across a range of missions and orbital regimes.
Redwire’s ELSA wings are designed to deliver efficient electrical generation while minimizing stowed volume and mass, attributes that benefit small satellite platforms like Moog’s METEOR, which is built to support a variety of payloads and mission profiles from low Earth orbit upward. The METEOR bus itself, developed by Moog’s space division, is an enhanced ESPA‑Grande class platform capable of supporting diverse mission requirements through modular avionics, propulsion systems, and scalable payload interfaces, with mission life targeted at multiple years in orbit. Integration of Redwire’s solar arrays into the METEOR power system will augment on‑orbit energy availability for communications, sensors, and spacecraft subsystems.
The contract signals a broader trend in satellite manufacturing toward modular, flight‑proven components that can be standardized across programs to reduce development risk and accelerate deployment timelines for defense and commercial space customers. Solar array technology continues to be a focus of innovation in the aerospace sector as companies aim to improve power‑to‑mass ratios and support increasingly capable spacecraft architectures in support of constellations, national security objectives, and flexible mission operations. Moog’s choice of a baseline array component reflects industry emphasis on interoperability and rapid integration of advanced power systems for next‑generation satellite platforms.
