The MEV spacecraft grew out of a concept proposed in 2011 by ViviSat, a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms US Space and Alliant Techsystems (ATK).
[3] The MEV program continued on as a solo-project of Orbital ATK, which was subsequently purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018.
The MEV program continued under Northrop Grumman[3] and in 2019, launched MEV-1 to dock and reposition Intelsat 901, an objective reached in April 2020.
[1] At that time, the project was planned to be a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms US Space and Alliant Techsystems (ATK), to operate as a small-scale in-space satellite-refueling spacecraft.
[5] In April 2014, ATK announced that it would merge its Aerospace and Defense Groups with Orbital Sciences Corporation.
[10] MEV-1 rendezvoused with Intelsat 901 on 25 February 2020 at 07:15 UTC,[11][12] and by April 2020 had repositioned the commsat so that it could come back on line in its designated geosynchronous spot,[13] a space industry first for a telerobotic spacecraft, and something that had only previously been done on the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions with direct human assistance.
ViviSat's Mission Extension Vehicle was reported to operate at the "less complex" end of the technology spectrum,[5] which could offer higher reliability and reduced risk to satellite owners.