Session
Technical Session IV: Policies, Practices, or Methods to Enhance Low-Cost Space Access
Abstract
The recent tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia highlights the need for the independent, in-situ inspection of operational satellites. To address this problem, AeroAstro has been designing an autonomous companion microsatellite named Escort™. Given the extremely high value of major operational satellites, AeroAstro believes that responsible stakeholders should insist on having a relatively low-cost Escort-like microsatellite accompanying their satellites. Other critical roles that Escort can fill include on-orbit inspection of a technology validation satellite, situational awareness of the “space neighborhood” around another satellite, and even aiding the deployment and periodic calibration of another satellite. Each Escort is intended to perform proximity operations around a much larger satellite after either releasing itself from its host or after being delivered to the vicinity of the target satellite by a transfer vehicle. Once near the primary satellite, Escort can maneuver autonomously or in a supervised manner, either to inspect from any angle and distance or to hibernate. AeroAstro is in the process of developing a variety of bus and payload technologies to enable the Escort concept. AeroAstro’s patented RF Probe, in particular, can be used as a highly sophisticated diagnostic inspection tool to measure emissions from a communications satellites on-orbit.
Presentation Slides
AeroAstro’s Escort – A Microsatellite for On-Orbit Inspection of Space Assets
The recent tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia highlights the need for the independent, in-situ inspection of operational satellites. To address this problem, AeroAstro has been designing an autonomous companion microsatellite named Escort™. Given the extremely high value of major operational satellites, AeroAstro believes that responsible stakeholders should insist on having a relatively low-cost Escort-like microsatellite accompanying their satellites. Other critical roles that Escort can fill include on-orbit inspection of a technology validation satellite, situational awareness of the “space neighborhood” around another satellite, and even aiding the deployment and periodic calibration of another satellite. Each Escort is intended to perform proximity operations around a much larger satellite after either releasing itself from its host or after being delivered to the vicinity of the target satellite by a transfer vehicle. Once near the primary satellite, Escort can maneuver autonomously or in a supervised manner, either to inspect from any angle and distance or to hibernate. AeroAstro is in the process of developing a variety of bus and payload technologies to enable the Escort concept. AeroAstro’s patented RF Probe, in particular, can be used as a highly sophisticated diagnostic inspection tool to measure emissions from a communications satellites on-orbit.
