It’s Only Common Sense: Customers Capabilities—and Confidence
Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘The 'NVIDIA Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant’
RTX’s Blue Canyon Technologies Expands Reaction Wheel Production Capacity
April 20, 2026 | Blue Canyon TechnologiesEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies, part of RTX’s Raytheon business, is increasing reaction wheel production capacity to support growing demand for spacecraft subsystems and components. The company has allocated more than $1 million to expand production capability from 650 reaction wheels per year to 2,400 wheels per year – a planned increase of nearly 400%.
Reaction wheels use motor-driven torque to control spacecraft movements while on orbit without propulsion. A small satellite typically utilizes three to four reaction wheels to maintain position. Blue Canyon Technologies’ line of reaction wheels features 13 products ranging in size and torque options for the smallest CubeSats to spacecraft that are 400 kilograms and larger.
“Demand across the space industry continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, and we’re not simply reacting to supply chain challenges,” said Chris Winslett, general manager of Blue Canyon Technologies. “We’ve made targeted investments in our facilities, equipment and supplier partnerships to ensure we can meet that demand without compromising performance or reliability for our customers. Our customers depend on us for both innovation and execution, and these investments support those objectives.”
Blue Canyon Technologies has doubled its reaction wheel production footprint by dedicating the majority of one facility to handling increasing demand. Efficiency improvements include optimizing the production layout, implementing enhanced subassembly kitting to speed up assembly and investing in new equipment, including an additional precision mill and next generation precision balancing equipment to boost throughput and testing capacity. Additionally, long-term supplier agreements have been secured to provide steady material availability and mitigate supply chain risks.
Blue Canyon Technologies has manufactured reaction wheels since 2014, producing 3,500 flight units.
Share on:
Testimonial
"Advertising in PCB007 Magazine has been a great way to showcase our bare board testers to the right audience. The I-Connect007 team makes the process smooth and professional. We’re proud to be featured in such a trusted publication."
Klaus Koziol - atgSuggested Items
EV Tech OEM Indigo Technologies Closes Strategic Investment From Foxconn To Accelerate Its Smart EVs Solutions
03/25/2024 | PRNewswireIndigo Technologies, a robotics focused Smart EV OEM with breakthrough road sensing SmartWheels™ invented by team out of MIT, today announced it has received a strategic investment from Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn).
NASA’s Europa Clipper Gets Its Wheels for Traveling in Deep Space
11/24/2022 | NASAJust as NASA’s Mars rovers rely on robust wheels to roam the Red Planet and conduct science, some orbiters rely on wheels, too – in this case, reaction wheels – to stay pointed in the right direction.
A New Concept for Self-Assembling Micromachines
08/06/2019 | MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFTIn the future, designers of micromachines can utilize a new effect. A team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have presented a concept that enables the components of microvehicles, microrotors and micropumps to assemble themselves in an electric field.
Reliability Takes on a New Urgency
09/05/2018 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007Consumers wanted a reliable car that wouldn’t break down on the road; a computer that wouldn’t crash; a phone network that wouldn’t drop our calls; the plane we were hurtling across the sky in to stay in the air and land safely, with the wheels down. In retrospect, those seem rather simple wants, and the industry certainly wants to deliver.