The Technology Demonstration Objectives of the Orbital Test Bed Mission: Using the Hosted Payload Concept to Advance Small Satellite Technologies and Scientific Capabilities

The Technology Demonstration Objectives of the Orbital Test Bed Mission: Using the Hosted Payload Concept to Advance Small Satellite Technologies and Scientific Capabilities

This paper discusses the technology objectives of SST-US’s OTB mission and the relevance of Surrey’s hosted payload approach for flying U.S. government sensors and commercial payloads to enable the commercialization of small satellite products and technologies and advance the capabilities of future small satellite systems. SST-US’s second ride-share mission, OTB-2, is scheduled for flight readiness in 2016. OTB-2’s mission parameters and applicability to diverse payload, technology, and science requirements are presented and reviewed. Using the most recent mission OTB, which successfully passed critical design review in January 2014, the upcoming OTB-2 flight opportunity, and a selection of previous missions as specific current and past examples, this paper also describes how technology demonstration objectives were achieved. The paper also discusses different mechanisms for creating and exploiting fast-turnaround hosted payload opportunities, the common programmatic and mission integration approach that characterizes Surrey’s hosted payload missions and the critical factors that enable success from mission to mission.