Spaceships Rescuing Spaceships: Is It A Business?

With all the space junk floating around the Earth in various orbits, this could become a big business. Orbital Recovery Ltd. has signed a strategic teaming agreement with Dutch Space to develop a space tug for use in rescuing satellites stranded in orbit and extending the operational lifetimes of other telecommunications spacecraft.

Dutch Space was selected by Orbital Recovery Ltd. to develop and build its ConeXpress ORS (Orbital Recovery System) vehicle, based on hardware already produced for the European Ariane 5 launcher.

When operational, ConeXpress ORS will serve as an orbital “tugboat”  supplying the propulsion, navigation and guidance to maintain a telecommunications satellite in its proper orbit for years beyond normal fuel depletion.

The primary mission of ConeXpress ORS will be to prolong the in-service life of expensive geostationary orbit telecommunications satellites, which today are junked when their on-board fuel supply runs out. ConeXpress ORS also can be used to rescue spacecraft that have become stranded during orbital positioning maneuvers.

Orbital Recovery Ltd. selected Dutch Space to produce the ConeXpress ORS after performing an international survey of space hardware manufacturers. 

In a unique approach to spacecraft development, Dutch Space will build the ConeXpress ORS based on a payload adapter that is used on every mission of the Ariane 5 launcher. This allows flight-proven hardware to serve as the structure for ConeXpress ORS, and opens regular launch opportunities for the space tug on Ariane 5. 

Dutch Space has been working for some time on evolving the Ariane 5 payload adapter unit into a self-propelled spacecraft  pursuing this conceptual work under a program supported by the European Space Agency. 

Dutch Space’s self-propelled spacecraft concept was designated ConeXpress  a name that refers to the truncated cone shape of the Ariane 5 payload adapter unit. The adapter serves as an interface between Ariane 5 and its commercial satellite payloads, with the satellite mounted atop the unit. 

In its current utilization, the adapter unit is empty inside. For its operation as ConeXpress ORS, the adaptor will be equipped with ion propulsion system and guidance/flight control electronics.

ConeXpress ORS will continue to serve as a payload adapter for Ariane 5 missions, and once the satellite atop it has been successfully deployed in flight, the vehicle will be released from the launcher to begin its own mission as an independent space tug.

The first flight of ConeXpress ORS is targeted for 2007, and Orbital Recovery Ltd. anticipates the market requirement for several commercial missions of the space tug each year.

“ConeXpress enables a better use of the Ariane launcher.  As a space tug, it also enables the better use of communication satellites,” said Dutch Space President and CEO Ben Spee. “In this teaming with Orbital Recovery Ltd., two very good ideas are combined into a single excellent application.”

ConeXpress ORS is designed to easily mate with all telecommunications spacecraft now in space or on the drawing boards.  After launch, the space tug will rendezvous with the target telecommunications satellite, approaching it from below for docking.  ConeXpress ORS will link up with the satellite using docking and robotic technology developed in cooperation with Germany’s DLR Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics.  Aon Space is providing insurance brokering and risk management services to Orbital Recovery Ltd. for the program.

FMI: www.orbitalrecovery.com