Technical Sessions

Session IX: From Earth to Orbit

Chair: Darrin Buck, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

1:45 p.m. Small Satellite Access to ESPA Standard Service

Ted Marrujo – DoD Space Test Program (STP), Mission Design; Lt Jake Mathis – Space and Missile Systems Center, Launch and Range Systems Wing; Caleb Weiss – United Launch Alliance

ABSTRACT: The DoD Space Test Program (STP), the Air Force Launch and Range Systems Wing (LRSW), and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are teaming up to provide a rideshare service to small satellites (<400lb) using an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA). This rideshare service is an opportunity on EELV missions with margin to carry auxiliary payloads (APLs). This paper will define the ESPA, the standard rideshare service provided to APLs, and how APLs can access this service. We will discuss the roles and responsibilities the different government organizations, ULA, and the small satellite provider have in accessing and implementing ESPA Standard Service. In brief, ULA builds the EELV and performs the launch service, LRSW is responsible for developing and acquiring EELVs from ULA, and STP is responsible for identifying and manifesting APLs that meet ESPA Standard Service requirements. We will further define the processes and procedures required to implement ESPA Standard Service to include: how a particular EELV mission is selected to host ESPA Standard Service, the selection process for auxiliary satellites to utilize the capability, the requirements and timelines small satellites must meet to qualify, and the scope of services provided by ULA as part of Standard Service.

2:00 p.m. The Atlas V Aft Bulkhead Carrier – Requirements for the Small Satellite Designer

George Budris – United Launch Alliance

ABSTRACT: United Launch Alliance (ULA) developed the Aft Bulkhead Carrier (ABC) system for mounting small satellites onto the Atlas V launch vehicle.  Payloads with a maximum mass of 176 lbs and volume of 20 x 20 x 34 in. are viable candidates to fly. ULA has already built flight hardware and is preparing a User’s Guide to document the technical interface information required by spacecraft designers.

When working with the rideshare community, primary payload mission managers expect the small satellite
programs to meet high standards for requirements, management, and closeout during integration on their mission. Successful integration of small satellites onto the ABC takes place following a disciplined approach to meeting and verifying mission requirements. It is vital that the community comprehend what these requirements are and follow an established process to meet them. By doing so, access to orbit can be reliably achieved for small satellites via the ABC. Failed integration efforts cost time, money, and customer good will.

This paper summarizes the ABC system and progress of the development to date. Additionally, it provides a summary of the ABC User’s Guide, identifying the generic requirements any payload must meet to successfully
launch. Additional insight is presented as to the type of verifications needed, their expected quality, and timing
during the integration schedule. A case study on the integration of the ADAMSAT payload is reviewed, providing a real-life example of lessons learned from the attempt to integrate this Cubesat Dispensing system to the ABC/Atlas V.

2:15 p.m. Evolutional Launch Concepts for Pico/Nano Satellites

Seiji Matsuda, Nobuhiro Sekino, Kazuhiro Yagi, Yasunobu Segawa – IHI Aerospace Co., Ltd.; A.C. Charania – SpaceWorks Commercial; Hideki Kanayama – CSP Japan Inc.; Takayoshi Fuji – Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF)

ABSTRACT: As the capabilities (through standardization and modular design approaches) and users (from universities to research laboratories to private companies) of nanosatellites increase, there is a commensurate need for dedicated launch access to space. This paper reviews recent development efforts related to Nano-Launcher, an orbital payload launch service for nano and microsatellites (1-10 kg and 10-100 kg to orbit). The system uses mainly existing elements in combination, based upon existing solid stages (such as the SpaceSpike-1 and 2, stages evolved from the JAXA/ISAS S-520 solid rocket) along with existing air-launch aircraft (such as the F-104 and F-15). Nano-Launcher is deemed to have a lower development risk/cost and will be designed to be more responsive to nanosatellite customers than competing services. The program is being led by the authors with cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade and Institute of Space (METI) and Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of JAXA. Key technologies currently being developed for the system include boost motor propulsion, non-pyrotechnic stage separation system, and lightweight and low-cost avionics. There is envisioned to be a breadth of Nano-Launcher payload delivery services available for suborbital and orbital customers utilizing different combinations of rocket stages and carrier aircraft.

2:30 p.m. Routine Scheduled Space Access for Secondary Payloads Satellites

Jason Andrews, Jeff Cannon – SpaceFlight Services, Inc.

ABSTRACT: Commercial launch vehicles often launch with primary payloads that do not max-out launch capacity to the destination orbit. To take advantage of this excess capability, secondary payloads can be launched with the primary payload, providing an economical means to get small spacecraft to orbit, as well as providing additional revenue to the launch provider. Up until now, these secondary payload opportunities have been limited and sporadic, with payloads waiting for rides due to mismatched orbit destinations, availability of launch vehicle capacity, and prohibitive cost. With the advent of new U.S. commercial launch services, the opportunities for launch of small secondary spacecraft are expected to increase. Secondary payload customers can take full advantage of these opportunities with standard interfaces and processes to enable routine launch at competitive commercial prices. To provide routine low cost access to space, Spaceflight Services has partnered with SpaceX to provide secondary payload flight services on its Falcon 9 launches using available capacity or in Falcon 9 Dragon launches using volume in the Dragon Trunk. Spaceflight Services provides standard interfaces for a range of small spacecraft, ranging from CubeSat-class to ESPA-class payloads. This paper explores the effects of implementing standard payload accommodations and streamlined launch integration processes in establishing routine launch of secondary payloads at commercial prices.

2:45 p.m. Low-Resource CubeSat-Scale Sensorcraft for Auroral and Ionospheric Plasma Studies

Phillip Bracikowski, K.A. Lynch, Lisa Gayetsky - Dartmouth College

ABSTRACT: Explicitly separating variations in space from variations in time over a large volume is a current unmet challenge for in situ studies of the ionosphere and aurora. We propose that arrays of many (≥ 10) low-resource sensorcraft can address this scientific and technical challenge. We are developing a suborbital CubeSat, RocketCube, to enable low-cost multipoint measurements for orbital and sub-orbital scientific missions. The graduate student-designed RocketCube showcases a new scientific instrument, the Petite Ion Probe (PIP), and an FPGA-based instrumentation and payload bus system designed specifically with the ionosphere in mind. The PIP, a retarding potential analyzer, measures thermal plasma parameters to characterize the ionosphere. In addition to control and data handling, RocketCube’s bus system will allow synchronization of PIP activity between payloads in an array to the order of ~1 μs from timing provided by a qualified GPS. As of this writing (June 2010), RocketCube may be repackaged and manifested as a deployable subpayload on the Cornell University MICA (Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling in the Alfvn Resonator) mission scheduled for a winter 2012 sounding rocket launch. Additionally, RocketCube is enabling us to be currently proposing our next scientific sounding rocket mission, called Probe Array Lattice to Investigate Spatial Auroral DEnsity Structuring (Palisades), to NASA’s G/LCAS (Geospace Low Cost Access to Space) program. Palisades will feature an array of 12 subpayloads containing our bus system and two PIPs per payload to study the auroral driving of the ionosphere. This paper provides an overview of RocketCube’s purpose, design, and current status including details of the PIP instrument.

3:00 p.m. Ultra-Compact LADAR Systems for Next Generation Space Missions

Randy Reibel, Nathan Greenfield, Trenton Berg, Brant Kaylor , Peter Roos – Bridger Photonics Inc.; Zeb Barber, David Klumpar – Montana State University

ABSTRACT: Bridger Photonics and Montana State University have pioneered the active stabilization and control of highly-power efficient, extremely broadband swept laser sources for novel laser radar (LADAR) systems. By using a stretched processing technique similar to that of microwave radar, an FMCW LADAR system has numerous advantages that can help break the insertion barrier for LADAR-based sensors on small satellites (small-sats). These advantages include: (a) their extreme sensitivity allowing very low return light levels, (b) their capability to deliver extremely high down-range resolution using low-bandwidth receiver electronics, (c) their high electrical power efficiencies, (d) their compact, robust packaging and (e) their flexibility to perform a variety of advanced missions. The team has recently demonstrated the highest resolution LADAR measurements in the world (sub-50 microns) with range precisions on the nanometer scale. Examples of 3D imagery are also shown and a discussion of the future opportunities for sensors enabled by these novel sources and the FMCW approach is provided.