Orbital ATK [OA] announced Sept. 11 that it has begun assembling its first robotic satellite-servicing spacecraft, which it plans to launch in 2018.
Orbital ATK conducted a critical design review of the Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) earlier in 2017, and its satellite manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va., has taken delivery of about 75 percent of the spacecraft’s components, the company said.
The MEV-1 is slated to begin system-level testing in the spring and be launched in late 2018. Starting in early 2019, the MEV-1 is supposed to extend the service life of an Intelsat [I] communications satellite in geosynchronous Earth orbit by docking with the satellite and taking over its propulsion and attitude control.
“The start of assembly of MEV-1 means that in-orbit satellite servicing will soon become a reality,” said Tom Wilson, president of Space Logistics, an Orbital ATK subsidiary. “MEV-1 will be the first spacecraft of its kind to offer this innovative service. This is just the first step toward introducing even more advanced space logistics capabilities in the future.”
Designed to last 15 years, the MEV-1 will be able to “perform numerous dockings and repositionings during its life span,” Orbital ATK said. Ultimately, the company plans to create a fleet of vehicles to perform various in-space servicing missions, including assembly, refueling, repair and transportation.
Separately, Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced Sept. 11 that it has received a NASA contract to conduct the detailed design of a robotic, in-space satellite assembly system.
SSL’s contract, whose dollar value was not disclosed, builds on work the company has already done for NASA’s Dragonfly program, including performing a recent ground demonstration. The demonstration, which took place at a company facility in Pasadena, Calif., used robotics to attach antenna reflectors to a satellite structure.
The Dragonfly system will undergo another ground demonstration before being tried out in space, SSL spokesman Omar Mahmoud said.
According to SSL, Dragonfly will allow “larger and more powerful satellites that cannot be launched fully assembled to be packaged in pieces within a standard launch vehicle fairing.”
The Orbital ATK and SSL announcements came less than two months after a federal judge dismissed an Orbital ATK lawsuit challenging the Robotic Servicing of Geostationary Satellites (RSGS), a satellite-servicing program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Orbital ATK charged that the government program, whose commercial partner is SSL, unfairly backs a competitor. DARPA countered that RSGS focuses on inspection, repairs and upgrades, while Orbital ATK’s effort is geared toward life extension.