MDA Continues Development of Solution to Deliver Payloads to Geostationary Orbit

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. ("MDA" or the "Company") (TSX:MDA), a global communications and information company, today announced that it has signed a contract amendment with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further develop and test the Payload Orbital Delivery (POD) system as part of DARPA's Phoenix program. This project was originally announced in November 2013.

The POD is a standardized mechanism designed to safely carry a wide variety of separable mass elements to orbit—including payloads and electronics—aboard commercial communications satellites. This approach would take advantage of the tempo and "hosted payloads" services that commercial satellites now provide while enabling lower-cost delivery to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). The POD system is one of three main technology areas MDA is developing under the Phoenix program, which aims to reduce the cost of access to space.