Spotlight: Satellite Servicing

Graham Warwick December 19, 2018

2019 MEV

Credit: Northrop Grumman

The Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) from Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics is expected to provide docked life extension for 2,000-kg-class geostationary (GEO) satellites—a reusable “jet pack” that performs orbit maintenance and attitude control. With fuel for more than 15 years, MEV can undock and redock multiple times. MEV-1 is to be launched by Proton in 2019 to dock with Intelsat 901 and MEV-2 to another Intelsat satellite early in 2020 under a second five-year lease. MEV is based on Northrop’s GEOstar satellite bus.

 

2020 Space Drone

Credit: Effectivness space

Effective Space’s Space Drone is a 400-kg docked life-extension vehicle for GEO satellites, a competitor for the MEV. With Israel Aerospace Industries as prime contractor and financial backer, the UK startup plans to launch two vehicles on Proton in 2020 under a multi-year agreement with an unidentified international satellite operator.

 

2020 Restore-L

Credit: NASA

NASA’s Restore-L robotic servicer mission planned for 2020 is to rendezvous with, grasp, refuel and relocate the Landsat 7 satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO). The SSL-built bus carries an autonomous relative-navigation system, dual dexterous robotic arms with multifunction tools and a propellant transfer system. NASA is looking for missions after refueling Landsat.

 

 

2020 ELSA-d

Credit: Astroscale

Japanese startup Astroscale plans a LEO satellite end-of-life deorbiting service, with an ELSA-d demo mission scheduled for early 2020. A 150-kg chaser and 20-kg target will be launched together by Soyuz, then separate to demonstrate search, rendezvous and capture of the target—stable or tumbling—using a magnetic docking plate.

 

 

2021 RSGS

Credit: DARPA

DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program is expected to demonstrate on-orbit inspection, repair, refueling and upgrading. An SSL bus will carry a Naval Research Laboratory payload with two dexterous robotic arms. Launch is planned for 2021 on
a multi-year mission to service at least 20 commercial and government GEO satellites. After
the DARPA demo, SSL will operate the Remote Servicing Vehicle on a commercial basis.

 

2023 SpaceTug

Credit: DARPA

Under the mantle of O.Cubed Services, Airbus plans a SpaceTug family of spacecraft for GEO satellite maintenance and inspection, LEO and GEO constellation deployment and orbital debris cleanup. Airbus plans to add a robotic payload to its Eurostar Neo satellite bus to create the servicer, with the first mission planned for 2023 in GEO

 

A raft of spacecraft servicing demonstrations are planned over the next three years as manufacturers and operators, commercial and military, work to build the business case for maintaining and upgrading satellites in orbit to extend their usefulness.

 

Graham Warwick

Graham leads Aviation Week's coverage of technology, focusing on engineering and technology across the aerospace industry, with a special focus on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense.