Maxar Partner Satellite Factory Tour

This week was the highlight of my professional career. I watched satellites being built at the Maxar facility in Palo Alto. It fulfilled a lifelong dream that started as a 10-year-old in New Jersey when I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time.

During the tour it was astonishing to learn that Maxar played a role in every manned Mercury, Gemini and APOLLO flight. Most notably, Maxar built NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, which provided communications between the astronauts and Earth. Maxar also worked with IBM to build the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) program for NASA. These seismic and environmental instruments stayed on the Moon and sent back scientific data for analysis.

I could also share this experience with my two children. Based on the pictures, they now think that their dad is an astronaut.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The experience was absolutely one massive step in my journey within the space industry.

The tour lasted 2 hours, and the event was an all-day affair that carried into dinner in Palo Alto. Over dinner we discussed the experience, and how amazed we were with the rigorous testing process.

I was personally fascinated with the thermal vacuum testing. For this testing, the entire satellite is placed in a special chamber that can be pumped down to near-vacuum conditions. The chamber also includes high-performance heating and cooling equipment.?

In summary, I now look up with even greater amazement and I wake up every day happy to be at Maxar and to play a role in the Space industry.