Blue Canyon Tech

LAFAYETTE, Colo., Aug. 09, 2022 – Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, today announced it was selected to provide 18 CubeSats for The Tomorrow Companies Inc. (“Tomorrow.io”) microwave sounding mission.

In its largest constellation delivery to date, Blue Canyon will provide 18 integrated CubeSats and payload elements, support payload integration, conduct integrated space vehicle tests, including environmental testing, and provide pre-launch mission operations services. The company has successfully launched 44 spacecraft and over 1300 components since its inception.

“Our CubeSat and components teams are looking forward to building at a larger scale, in a new facility, with improved payload interfaces and standardized designs,” said John Carvo, Executive Director of CubeSats at Blue Canyon Technologies. “Raytheon Technologies’ continued investment has allowed us to increase inventory and acquire new testing equipment and facilities, so we can continue providing innovative products and the agility to move quickly to ensure rapid delivery to our customers.”

The Tomorrow.io microwave sounder payload leverages the heritage of NASA’s TROPICS program by using MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s next generation Microwave Sounder Instrument which collects temperature, water vapor, precipitation, and cloud ice measurements to study storms and other meteorological events. This constellation of passive microwave sounders will complement Tomorrow.io’s constellation of weather radar satellites. The combination of radar and microwave sounding data leans on the long heritage of NASA’s Global Precipitation Mission and is expected to significantly improve real-time situational awareness, short-term nowcasts, medium-term forecasts, and climate studies.

The CubeSats will be designed, built, and tested in the company’s new CubeSat Factory, which opened in Boulder, Colorado, on Aug. 3, 2022. Once in production, BCT will deliver two space vehicles per month.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, is comprised of four business units: CubeSats, Microsats, Components, and Mission Operations. BCT offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable, and affordable spacecraft and components that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements for the new space economy. The company currently supports numerous unique missions with over 100 cumulative spacecraft orders.  Microsatellites are manufactured at the 80,000 sq-ft Lafayette facility and CubeSats and components are manufactured in 40,000 sq-ft of dedicated facilities in Boulder, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on LinkedIn here, Instagram here, or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber services and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers around the world. For more information, visit www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com.

About Tomorrow.io

Tomorrow.io is The World’s Weather and Climate Security Platform, helping countries, businesses, and individuals manage their weather and climate security challenges. The platform is fully customizable to any industry impacted by the weather. Customers around the world, including Uber, Delta, Ford, National Grid, and more use Tomorrow.io to dramatically improve operational efficiency. Tomorrow.io was built from the ground up to help teams prepare for the business impact of weather by automating decision-making and enabling climate adaptation at scale. To learn more, please go to: www.tomorrow.io

LAFAYETTE, Colo., May 31, 2022 – Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, today announced the launch of Agile Microsat and High-Assurance Communications System Satellites, or HACSSAT, 1 & 2, aboard the Transporter-5 mission on May 25, 2022.

Agile Microsat, or AMS, is a standardized 6U CubeSat bus, which Blue Canyon designed, built and tested for MIT Lincoln Laboratory. BCT’s Guidance Navigation & Control System, balanced mechanical design and customer-furnished propulsion system resulted in an extended low-altitude flight. The company is flying two customer payloads and a hosted software suite designed by MIT Lincoln Labs that will provide autonomous orbit maintenance.

HACSSAT is a follow-up mission by Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory with lessons learned from its NetSat mission, whose payload was an experimental networking radio and recently completed all of its program goals on-orbit. For HACSSAT 1 & 2, Blue Canyon provided Space Dynamics Laboratory with the bus electronics for two 3U CubeSats, integrated the payloads, and completed environmental testing on both spacecraft.

“BCT’s innovative technology and advanced capabilities are designed to meet each customer’s needs,” said Jeff Schrader, president, Blue Canyon Technologies. “AMS is the first nanosatellite to enable long-duration low altitude flight, and HACSSAT is unique in that the laboratory can command the bus through the HACSSAT payload antenna.”

Blue Canyon also provided numerous FleXcore systems and reaction wheels to more than five spacecraft for this rideshare mission. BCT’s mission operations team connected to the Agile Microsat just after launch and confirmed nominal spacecraft state of health. This marks over 35 spacecraft BCT has launched into orbit successfully. Spacecraft operations for AMS will be performed at BCT’s Mission Operations Center, which, by the end of 2022, will be operating 18 spacecraft that span seven different missions.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, is comprised of four business units: CubeSats, Microsats, Components, and Mission Operations. BCT offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable, and affordable spacecraft and components that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements for the new space economy. The company currently supports numerous unique missions with over 100 cumulative spacecraft orders.  Microsatellites are manufactured at the 80,000 sq-ft Lafayette facility and CubeSats and components are manufactured in 40,000 sq-ft of dedicated facilities in Boulder, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on LinkedIn here, Instagram here, or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber services and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers around the world. For more information, visit www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com.

April 28, 2022 11:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, assisted in the deployment of Ascent, the company’s first CubeSat spacecraft bus launched to a geostationary, or GEO, orbit by the Air Force Research Laboratory as part of the U.S. Space Force’s Test Program-3 mission.

Blue Canyon provided the 12U CubeSat bus, avionics, flight software, Guidance Navigation and Control actuators and sensors, batteries, solar panels, solar array drives, two propulsion systems, and RF communication hardware. BCT was on-site during commissioning and ensured the spacecraft was in a safe, stable power and thermal attitude before releasing operations to the lab to complete the mission objectives.

“In addition to being BCT’s first CubeSat flown at GEO, this is also the first demonstration of our Solar Array Drive Assemblies and the first application of our CubeSat components in the GEO radiation and charging environment,” said John Carvo, executive director of CubeSats, a business unit of BCT. “This is yet another example of our vertical integration and collaborative partnerships with our customers that enable BCT to expand the frontiers of science and defense.”

The Ascent mission is evaluating the performance of commercial-off-the-shelf technology and capabilities in the GEO space environment, only previously seen in LEO flight experiments. Ascent comprises several demonstrations that include flying two propulsion systems and the first GEO application of the Georgia Tech cold gas propulsion system to provide momentum management. BCT contacted the spacecraft on the first acquisition and continues to support on-orbit questions as needed.

At the company’s manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado, Blue Canyon recently converted the available office space to house its full CubeSat product line. BCT has more than 20 CubeSats in production and offers standardized designs that enable rapid delivery. The company is comprised of four core business units – CubeSats, Microsats, Components, and Mission Operations, with each offering peak performance, low-cost, and integrated solutions delivered directly to the end-user.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable and affordable spacecraft that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements. BCT’s mission is to enable space missions to expand the frontiers of science and defense. BCT is currently supporting nearly 50 unique missions with over 90 spacecraft, all in production or recently delivered at their newly developed 80,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the 2020 Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on LinkedIn here or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber services and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 30 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15.2 billion in annual revenue in 2021 and has 34,500 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

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March 31, 2022 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC or “BCT” or “Blue Canyon”, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, was selected to build eight X-SAT Venus ESPA-class microsatellite buses for NASA’s HelioSwarm science mission. The purpose of the mission will be to study the solar wind and space plasma turbulence.

The HelioSwarm mission is a multi-spacecraft observatory that will capture the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions of solar wind turbulence. Launching in 2028, one hub spacecraft and eight small satellites will move in coordinated orbits as a swarm using a highly elliptical, lunar resonant earth-orbit. In addition to the spacecraft buses, Blue Canyon will integrate the science instrument payloads and perform spacecraft-level environmental testing.

“Blue Canyon’s trusted on-orbit product performance allows our customers to focus on payload efforts,” said Stephen Steg, CEO of Blue Canyon Technologies. “The synergy between our spacecraft and component product lines fuels our ability to tailor solutions for each mission’s unique requirements.”

Blue Canyon has been a mission partner in HelioSwarm since 2020 and will deliver the microsatellites in 2026 and 2027. The HelioSwarm Principal Investigator is Dr. Harlan Spence from the University of New Hampshire, providing the science payload, and other partners include Northrop Grumman’s hub spacecraft, and NASA Ames Research Center overseeing project management and mission operations.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable and affordable spacecraft that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements for the new space economy, reducing the barriers of space entry. BCT is currently supporting nearly 50 unique missions with over 90 spacecraft, all in production at their newly developed 80,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the 2020 Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on Instagram here or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber services and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 30 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15.2 billion in annual revenue in 2021 and has 34,500 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

Contact

Natalie Miller, 714-496-0839

February 09, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, today announced that several of their components successfully launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-3 mission last month.

For this rideshare mission, Blue Canyon provided reaction wheels and the company’s integrated Attitude Control Systems, known as the XACT and FleXcore, to support four CubeSats and five microsats, all of which showcase the company’s expansive product line. With partners such as Capella Space and several other commercial customers, Blue Canyon is working to enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements for the new space economy.

“Blue Canyon’s vertically integrated structure and diverse product line have allowed us to meet each customer’s unique mission requirements,” said Stephen Steg, CEO of Blue Canyon Technologies. “The number of our components aboard this successful launch demonstrates BCT’s proven performance and commitment to innovation and expanding the frontiers of science and defense.”

With this launch, the company now has over 500 reaction wheels operating successfully on-orbit. BCT is currently manufacturing more than 20 microsatellites and CubeSats each and is supplying numerous customers throughout its components business. Blue Canyon’s hardware has flown on more than 200 CubeSats and over 25 ESPA-class microsatellites. Additionally, BCT provides RF communications capabilities and mission operations services for the spacecraft it manufactures. It plans to support 15 spacecraft over six missions in 2022.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable and affordable spacecraft that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements for the new space economy, reducing the barriers of space entry. BCT is currently supporting nearly 50 unique missions with over 90 spacecraft, all in production at their newly developed 80,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the 2020 Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on Instagram here or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber services and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 30 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15.2 billion in annual revenue in 2021 and has 34,500 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

December 21, 2021 07:00 AM Mountain Standard Time

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, celebrates its first anniversary with Raytheon Intelligence & Space, one of the four RTX businesses, which specializes in developing advanced sensors, cyber and software solutions.

“Raytheon’s investment has allowed Blue Canyon to scale production to dramatically reduce spacecraft time leads and offer end-to-end solutions,” said Stephen Steg, CEO of BCT. “With RI&S’ light touch integration, our customers truly get the best of both worlds: the agility and innovation of a small business, and the deep technical expertise and strategic resources of a global organization.”

BCT has reorganized around four core business units – CubeSats, Microsats, Components, and Mission Operations, each with expert teams and dedicated manufacturing facilities in Boulder and Lafayette, Colorado. This structure supports the unique needs of each market segment and provides integrated solutions delivered directly to the end-user.

BCT’s CubeSats include sub arc-sec pointing and optimized payload size, weight, and power. Microsats will now be available in standardized designs for the ESPA and ESPA Grande spacecraft to enable rapid delivery. The Components business unit has expanded capabilities with a comprehensive offering of spacecraft subsystems, including control moment gyroscopes, reaction wheels, star trackers, sun sensors, torque rods, batteries, solar arrays, antennas, radios, and power and data systems. Mission Operations offers services to fly and operate BCT spacecraft, providing customers a one-stop-shop for spacecraft design, manufacturing, and flight operations.

“Coupled with our existing capabilities, Blue Canyon Technologies allows us to provide end-to-end space mission solutions to our customers,” said Paul Meyer, vice president, Space & C2 Systems, Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

BCT has invested in high-volume manufacturing to support large quantity production that enables NASA, DOD, and commercial missions across the globe. It has delivered over 60 spacecraft, 1,000 flight reaction wheels, 150 star trackers, and an additional 60 spacecraft are in production. BCT’s Mission Operations continues to expand and will support 27 missions in 2022.

BCT’s workforce has grown over 33% in the past year. It will continue to be a merchant supplier of spacecraft to the broader space market, supporting multiple customer sets and growing its diverse product line to meet customer demand.

About Blue Canyon Technologies
Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable and affordable spacecraft that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements. BCT’s mission is to enable space missions to expand the frontiers of science and defense. BCT is currently supporting nearly 50 unique missions with over 90 spacecraft, all in production or recently delivered at their newly developed 80,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the 2020 Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on Instagram here or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space
Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, cyber and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 46 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15 billion in adjusted pro forma annual revenue in 2020 and has 37,000 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

December 15, 2021 08:00 AM Mountain Standard Time

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Small-satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, announced the five-year on-orbit milestone of its reaction wheels and star trackers on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission. Manufactured and operated by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) for Principal Investigator Dr. Chris Ruf from the University of Michigan, the CYGNSS constellation includes 24 high-performance reaction wheels (RWp015) and eight star trackers provided by BCT.

“Our reaction wheel and tracker performance are key components to the mission’s attitude controls,” said Matt Pallas, Blue Canyon executive director of components. “We pride ourselves on delivering performance-proven products for each of our customer’s unique mission needs.”

The CYGNSS mission was extended three years to 2023, with plans to revisit and possibly extend through 2026. The mission consists of a constellation of eight low-Earth orbit microsatellites that make frequent measurements of the ocean surface to monitor the intensity and development of tropical cyclones.

“Capturing this data is critical in predicting the intensity of storms and mapping them accurately through the GPS signals received by the microsatellites,” said SwRI’s Jillian Redfern, CYGNSS project manager and mission operations manager.

Each of the eight satellites is equipped with Blue Canyon’s three reaction wheels and one star tracker. The reaction wheels deliver three-axis attitude control with high-pointing accuracy, brushless DC motors, ultra-smooth bearings, and the advanced lubrication system provide low-jitter performance and a long service life, as shown in the CYGNSS mission. BCT’s star trackers offer best-in-class performance on missions that require low mass and low power and lead the way in pointing performance.

At its manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado, Blue Canyon produces more than 30 reaction wheels weekly and has delivered over 1000 flight reaction wheels, of which 500 have successfully flown. BCT’s reaction wheel design offers seven sizes to fit many different applications and has expanded product offerings into high torque and power-efficient control moment gyroscopes.

About Blue Canyon Technologies

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative, reliable and affordable spacecraft that enable a broad range of missions and technological advancements. BCT’s mission is to enable space missions to expand the frontiers of science and defense. BCT is currently supporting nearly 50 unique missions with over 90 spacecraft, all in production or recently delivered at their newly developed 80,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Colorado.

BCT has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and provided the Attitude Control Systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars. The company has been recognized with awards from Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, the 2020 Best in Biz Award and the 2020 Tibbetts Award.

For the latest news on Blue Canyon Technologies and for other company information, please visit www.bluecanyontech.com. You can follow the company on Instagram here or Twitter here.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, training, and cyber and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 46 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15 billion in pro forma annual revenue in 2020 and has 37,000 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.