SSL Company

SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies.

SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial customers. Its products include high-powered direct-to-home broadcast satellites, commercial weather satellites, digital audio radio satellites, Earth observation satellites and spot-beam satellites for data networking applications.

The company was founded as the Western Development Laboratories (WDL) of Philco (Philco-Ford since 1966). The Space Systems Division was made a stand-alone Division of Aeronutronic/Ford Aerospace/ and was acquired by Loral Corp. in 1990 for $715 million from Ford Motor Company, and renamed Space Systems/Loral. All other divisions of Ford Aerospace including Western Development Labs now located in San Jose were also acquired by Loral at that time.

In 2012 Space Systems/Loral was acquired by the Canadian aerospace company MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) (now Maxar Technologies) for $875 million.

SSL's major competitors are Boeing Satellite Systems, Lockheed Martin, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space and JSC Information Satellite Systems.