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U.S. Robot Satellites Makes History
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL, April 9, 2007 - Satnews Daily - Orbital Express, an in-space U.S. refueling demonstration mission consisting of two robot satellites, wrote itself into the history books a week ago by successfully accomplishing the first transfer of liquid fuel between orbiting satellites, and is about to achieve another first by using its three meter robotic arm to transfer components–the first unassisted component exchange in space history.
Orbital Express consists of the Autonomous Space Transfer and Robotic Orbiter, or Astro, prototype servicing satellite, and the NextSat serviceable spacecraft. An Atlas V orbited both March 12 from Cape Canaveral.
The U.S.’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) $300 million mission will test the ability of robotic refueling and servicing satellites in space. Such a capability could extend the lives of government and commercial spacecraft.
Service satellites such as Astro and NextSat also have military value since they will enable satellites to optimize their time over ground targets and conduct counter denial and deception activities on the ground, according to DARPA. Built by Boeing Phantom Works, the 952kg Astro can intercept satellites in orbit and dock with them using its robotic arm. Ball Aerospace oversaw construction of the 226kg NextSat.
As part of Scenario 0-1, the first in a series of increasingly challenging tests, Astro transferred just under 32 pounds (14 kilograms) of hydrazine to the NextSat client, meeting the scenario objective, said DARPA. Future tests will include "autonomous undocking, proximity operations and re-docking," and Astro installing a functional battery and computer on NextSat with its robotic arm. Results from the robotic arm operation are being awaited. On April 16, the separation ring joining the two spacecraft together will be jettisoned to mark the beginning of rendezvous and capture activities.
Besides Orbital Express, the other Atlas V payloads last March 12 consisted of:
MidStar 1, a 116 kilogram microsatellite built by midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. It houses four experiments: the military's Internet Communications Satellite (ICSat) and Configurable Fault Tolerant Processor (CFTP) space-based computer tests, a payload called Eclipse to test electrochromic membranes in space and the Microdosimeter Instrument for the USNA Department of Aerospace Engineering under the sponsorship of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
STPsat 1, a 156 kilogram satellite built by AeroAstro Inc. of Ashburn, Virginia, carrying two experiments to collect atmospheric data and demonstrate spacecraft technologies. This satellite carries two complex experiments: the Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals (SHIMMER) designed for chemical and biological agent detection and the Computerized Ionospheric Tomography Receiver in Space (CITRIS) for atmospheric electron counting and radio frequency effects
CFESat (Cibola Flight Experiment Satellite), a 159 kilogram satellite built for the Los Alamos National Laboratory by SSTL to test a series of new technologies. This demonstration mission will put eight technologies to the test, such as a new power system, inflatable antennas, deployable booms and a high-density Li-Ion battery pack comprised of AA batteries. The spacecraft has a supercomputer onboard to process data for refined answers rather than downlinking all raw data to Earth. And the flight computer can be reprogrammed in space. The science objectives focus on the ionosphere and the effects on communications.
FalconSat 3, a 54 kilogram satellite built by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. It carries five military scientific experiments, including the Flat Plasma Spectrometer to characterize the effects of charged particles on the formation, propagation and decay of ionospheric plasma bubbles; the Plasma Local Anomalous Noise Element to identify spacecraft-induced plasma turbulence and the Micropropulsion Attitude Control System featuring a low-thrust, electric-pulsed plasma system with a thrust of 150 micro-Newtons. Technical pieces of the satellite -- a shock ring to test vibration suppression and a gravity gradient boom -- round out the experiments.
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