The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Intelsat General and Space Systems/Loral contracts in July to participate in its Phoenix satellite harvesting program.
Intelsat said it plans to study the broad implications of using commercial satellites to carry new technology hardware segments assisting in repurposing components into space as hosted payloads, according to a statement.
Loral was selected to determine how small satellites known as satlets can be carried to geostationary orbit (GEO) as hosted payloads on commercial satellites, according to a statement.
Intelsat said it also intends to investigate the safety, legal, regulatory and insurance issues associated with the hosted payload deployment mission.
The Phoenix program is designed to develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, non-working satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
Intelsat plans to work with the team developing the hosted payload interface and the payload orbital delivery system (PODS) carrying the satlets to investigate whether a non-proprietary, commercial “hardware hosting” solution is technically possible. Intelsat said it will also investigate whether this solution is legal, policy-enabled and is financially viable.
Intelsat intends to report to DARPA on the operational issues related to deploying and locating the PODS once they are released from the host spacecraft, according to a statement.
“The Phoenix program could result in a new approach to how satellites are built, once the ability to upgrade in-orbit satellites with new electronics and technologies is deemed feasible,” Intelsat President Kay Sears said in a statement. “We have been interested in satellite servicing for some time. This project demonstrates a further commitment by the United States government to an approach that re-uses high-value components in orbit.”
Loral said DARPA plans on demonstrating this capability in space in the 2015 to 2016 timeframe.
Intelsat and Loral are two of several contractors participating in the Phoenix program. Aurora Flight Sciences and ATK [ATK] said they’ve also been awarded contracts for Phoenix.
Aurora and its partners, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will develop prototypes of the attachment mechanisms to be used by the satlets to position themselves to accurately position and point the antenna once the they are attached. The satlets are designed to point the antennas and relay the radio signals collected by the antenna to the ground.
Aurora is responsible for the design, integration and testing of the satlet prototypes. MIT will provide control design expertise and microthruster technology to be used by the satlets to point the antennas. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for software development, verification and testing (Defense Daily, Aug. 14).
ATK said the Naval Research Laboratory, the Phoenix program systems integrator, informed the company it intends to negotiate with ATK to modify an existing U.S-built, U.S. government-owned geostationary satellite bus for the Phoenix mission, according to a company statement. The bus, originally designed by ATK, is designed to be capable of supporting, for a minimum of one year, robotic rendezvous and proximity operations and a grapple-and-repair robotic technology demonstration mission. ATK said the bus is scheduled to be delivered by October 2014 to the NRL for space vehicle integration and testing.
ATK said it also was selected for the Phoenix program’s primary robotics effort. ATK, in partnership with the University of Maryland’s Space Systems Laboratory, will develop robotic servicing tools and software to enable re-use of the antenna and other working components of non-functional satellites, according to a statement.
Space Systems/Loral is a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. Intelsat General is a subsidiary of Intelsat S.A.