Orbital Express Spacecraft launched successfully.
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Press Release Summary:
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched NextSat serviceable client satellite and prototype servicing spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard Atlas V 401 booster. Deployed into circular, 492 km, low Earth orbit, they will demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and capture of client spacecraft, satellite-to-satellite refueling, and replacement of battery and flight-computer orbital units.
Original Press Release:
Orbital Express Spacecraft Successfully Launched
Two Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Orbital Express
demonstrator spacecraft were launched yesterday at 10:10 p.m. EST, from Space Launch
Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard an Atlas V 401 booster. The launch
was sponsored by the Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP), as part of the STP-1
mission, which includes, in addition to Orbital Express, the STPSat-1 spacecraft and three other
microsatellites.
Orbital Express consists of a next generation serviceable "client" satellite (NextSat) and a
prototype servicing spacecraft (Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Orbiter or ASTRO). They
were deployed together into a circular, 492-kilometer, low earth orbit with an inclination of 46
degrees. They will spend the next three months in orbit, demonstrating for the first time fully
autonomous rendezvous and capture of client spacecraft, satellite-to-satellite refueling, and
replacement of battery and flight-computer orbital replacement units.
The technologies developed by DARPA's Orbital Express program are intended to
support a broad range of future U.S. national security, civil, and commercial space activities.
"What we're showing with Orbital Express is how on-orbit refueling and modular upgrades will
make it possible for us to work around some key obstacles: stringent maneuvering constraints,
part failures, and technological obsolescence," noted Lt. Col. Fred Kennedy, USAF, DARPA's
Orbital Express program manager. "We're hoping that mission designers will see the advantages
of a flexible architecture, where you can pop in a better flight computer, a fresh battery, or a
decade's worth of additional propellant."
On-orbit satellite refueling would provide the United States with the flexibility to
maneuver its satellites and optimize their time over ground targets, avoid both debris and other
spacecraft, change orbits to counter denial and deception activities on the ground, and, more
generally, provide tactical agility for a wide range of emerging missions. Refueling commercial
satellites would extend their service life without incurring the construction and launch costs for
replacement assets. The ability to replace or upgrade electronic components on deployed
spacecraft would support more rapid deployment of new technologies to satellites, without
fielding new vehicles. Satellites could be upgraded with technologies that become available after
launch, or components that fail prematurely could be replaced.
Boeing Phantom Works, Huntington Beach, Calif., is DARPA's prime integrator for the
Orbital Express program. They fabricated, assembled, and tested the ASTRO servicing
spacecraft. Ball Aerospace constructed the NextSat client satellite. Other members of the
Orbital Express team include NASA; Northrop Grumman Space Technology; MacDonald,
Dettwiler and Associates; Charles Stark Draper Laboratory; and Starsys Research.
