Launch Costs significantly impact the total cost of small satellite space systems. Rocket boosters alone can be expensive. When the time and money required for integration and launch site operations are added to the rocket hardware, the flyaway cost of a small satellite system can be staggering. Launch costs often exceed the costs of the actual satellites themselves. One way to reduce launch costs of small satellite systems is to take advantage of existing launch capacity. Potential opportunities exist for small satellites to rideshare with other satellites already traveling to space. Several of the planned Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launches have excess capacity. In conjunction with the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA), up to six small satellites are supported to rideshare with a primary satellite such as a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite or Global Positioning Satellite. Though it has been shown that small satellites are technically able to fly as secondary spacecraft on EELVs, it has not yet been determined what capabilities they can provide or what missions they can accomplish. This paper explores the trade-space of ESPA compatible spacecraft, focusing on satellite missions and designs that are of operational military utility. The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Wings were consulted to develop designs that would increase the effectiveness of current Department of Defense space systems. In addition to traditional satellite designs, this paper investigates dual-slotted ESPA satellites and using the ESPA as the spacecraft primary structure.
Operational Satellite Concepts for ESPA Rideshare
2007-03-01
1197612 byte
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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