Wed, Aug 15, 2012
New Satellite 'Morphology' Would Harvest Usable Parts From 'Retired' Spacecraft
Aurora Flight Sciences was recently selected by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the Phoenix program to explore development of a new satellite morphology through creation of "satlets" capable of harvesting key components from retired spacecraft in earth orbit. The goal of the DARPA Phoenix program is to develop technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites in geostationary orbit and to demonstrate the ability to create new spacecraft systems at greatly reduced cost.
Aurora and its partners, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will develop prototypes of the attachment mechanisms to be used by the satlets to position themselves on the retired spacecraft's antenna. Aurora's team also intends to demonstrate a distributed control system to accurately position and point the antenna once the satlets are attached. The satlets are designed to point the antenna and relay the radio signals collected by the antenna to the ground.
The reconfigured satellites are intended to provide additional communications bandwidth to US military customers at a fraction of the cost of launching new satellites.
Aurora is responsible for the design and integration of the satlets, as well as testing of the prototypes. MIT will provide control design expertise and microthruster technology to be used by the satlets to point the antennas. JPL is responsible for software development, verification, and testing.
"Aurora looks forward to working with DARPA to develop innovative solutions for the ambitious Phoenix program," said Javier de Luis, Aurora's Vice President for Research and Development. "Exploring a completely different methodology to build spacesystems from a new technology of 'satlets' offers the potential to harvest useable subsystems from retired satellites, creating affordable solutions for increased communications bandwidth."
More News
Aviation Governance Secured...At Least For a While The National Business Aviation Association similarly applauded the passage of the FAA's recent reauthorization, contentedly recou>[...]
Emphasis On Growing The Future of Aviation Through Concentration on 'AFFORDABLE FLYERS' It's been a number of years since the Latest Edition of Jim Campbell's HUGE SportPlane Resou>[...]
Amazilia Aerospace GmbH, Develops Digital Flight Control, Flight Guidance And Vehicle Management Systems Textron eAviation has acquired substantially all the assets of Amazilia Aer>[...]
Honeywell's Primus Brings New Tools and Niceties for Hawker Operators Hawker 4000 business jet operators have a new installation on the table, now that the FAA has granted an STC f>[...]
Company Celebrates Niche-but-Important Advancement in Industry Standards Echodyne has announced full integration of its proprietary 'EchoFlight' radar into the e American Aerospace>[...]
Bolen Gives Congress a Rare Thumbs-Up
See All