Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has won a contract from Boeing to build a second dual-payload-attach fitting (DPAF) for the Delta II satellite launcher.
The DPAFs, which will provide the Delta II with dual-launch capability to low-Earth orbit for payloads up to 2,250kg, will be used first for a launch in July 1999 from Vandenberg AFB, California, of the NASA Earth Observing System EOS 1 spacecraft and an Argentine satellite, the SAC-C.
The second DPAF has been tentatively assigned to the NASA Jason/Timed satellite Delta II launch scheduled for March 2000, also from Vandenberg.
The DPAF technology is based on the MMS-built Spelda dual-launch structure flown on the Ariane 4 and which has supported the launch of more than 60 geostationary satellites in ten years.
Source: Flight International
