SSL

SSL is a business unit of Maxar Technologies. Advent International, a private equity firm, acquired Maxar in a $6.4 billion take-private transaction that closed in May 2023 (per Reuters, 2023). Prior to that, Maxar was publicly traded, and before that, the satellite business operated under Loral Space & Communications. The Advent acquisition removed Maxar from public markets, making SSL's financial performance private.

SSL's principal product is the SSL-1300 series bus, a geostationary satellite platform that has underpinned more than 100 commercial and government missions. The platform supports communications, broadcasting, and earth observation payloads. More recently, SSL has evolved the 1300 design into a modular architecture that can be adapted for medium-earth orbit and hosted payload configurations.

No. SSL has a long-running relationship with NASA, providing the spacecraft bus for the Psyche asteroid mission and the Restore-L satellite servicing demonstration. The firm also builds constellations for commercial operators like Planet Labs (the SkySat fleet) and provides hosted payload solutions for the US Department of Defense. The dual-use customer base — commercial and government — is core to its business model.

SSL operates from a single campus at 3825 Fabian Way in Palo Alto that colocates design, fabrication, integration, and environmental testing. Most prime satellite manufacturers spread these functions across multiple sites or rely on a broader external supply chain. SSL's colocated model is designed to compress production timelines by keeping build, test, and integration loops under one management structure.

Advent operates as a control-oriented private equity firm, not a family office or pension fund. The SSL asset sits within Advent's technology and defense portfolio following the 2023 Maxar acquisition. Advent's typical hold period is five to seven years, during which it seeks operational improvements and strategic repositioning. The SSL unit functions as an operating company inside that private equity structure, not as a discretionary investment portfolio.

No. Although third-party databases sometimes classify SSL under a pension fund label — likely a legacy artifact from corporate benefit plans at predecessor entities — the firm operates as a satellite manufacturer and government contractor. It is not an asset allocator, does not manage third-party capital, and has no pension investment mandate. The correct classification is a corporate operating subsidiary.

Bernard Schwartz served as Chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications, SSL's predecessor parent, for decades. He was the architect who consolidated defense-electronics and satellite-manufacturing assets into the Loral entity during the 1980s and 1990s. Schwartz eventually sold Loral's defense businesses to Lockheed Martin, leaving the satellite manufacturing unit that became SSL. He remained a major figure in the US aerospace industrial base before retiring.