Abstract
Over the last few years, Orbital has witnessed the emergence of a new spacecraft bus market class we call Micro-GEMicro-GEO spacecraft operate in high-altitude orbits such as Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) and typically weigh an order of magnitude less than traditional GEO communications satellites. Initial demand has primarily been driven by defense needs, but NASA is expected to have an interest in this capability as well. This paper describes the market class and some of the bus design drivers.The obvious challenge to this class bus is access to space. Two basic means are available, direct injection into GEO and launch into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), with the spacecraft responsible for boosting itself to GEThe launch approach has a substantial impact on both the availability of launch opportunities as well as the complexity of the spacecraft bus design.Operation of spacecraft in high-altitude orbits such as GEO has many similarities to their low-Earth orbit (LEO) counterparts, but there are important differences as well. The paper addresses technical similarities and differences between the two orbital regimes and the resulting design implications.
Presentation Slides
Micro-GEOs: An Emerging Small Satellite Bus Class
Over the last few years, Orbital has witnessed the emergence of a new spacecraft bus market class we call Micro-GEMicro-GEO spacecraft operate in high-altitude orbits such as Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) and typically weigh an order of magnitude less than traditional GEO communications satellites. Initial demand has primarily been driven by defense needs, but NASA is expected to have an interest in this capability as well. This paper describes the market class and some of the bus design drivers.The obvious challenge to this class bus is access to space. Two basic means are available, direct injection into GEO and launch into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), with the spacecraft responsible for boosting itself to GEThe launch approach has a substantial impact on both the availability of launch opportunities as well as the complexity of the spacecraft bus design.Operation of spacecraft in high-altitude orbits such as GEO has many similarities to their low-Earth orbit (LEO) counterparts, but there are important differences as well. The paper addresses technical similarities and differences between the two orbital regimes and the resulting design implications.
