Canada’s MDA to supply NASA with spacecraft platform for asteroid mission
VANCOUVER — NASA has chosen a Canadian company to build a spacecraft platform that will venture to a metallic asteroid called 16 Psyche.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (TSX:MDA) says the contract is expected to be worth $100 million when finalized (US$75 million).
Its SSL unit in Palo Alto, Calif., will provide a spacecraft platform equipped with a high-power solar electric propulsion system.
NASA says the spacecraft is expected to be launched in 2023, pass by Mars two years later, and arrive at Psyche in 2030.