On-orbit spacecraft for lease: Uses for Cygnus after ISS resupply missions are complete

摘要

Cygnus is the Orbital ATK commercial cargo vehicle contracted by NASA's International Space Station (ISS) program to provide logistics support for the Station. Cygnus is designed to be a semi-autonomous delivery system for pressurized payloads and cargo that adheres to NASA requirements for Human spaceflight-rated vehicles. Cygnus also provides for the disposal of items from the ISS once its delivery mission is completed. Once Cygnus' primary resupply mission is complete and it departs the ISS, there are opportunities to use the spacecraft for other tasks prior to and during its destructive re-entry. This paper will discuss Cygnus capabilities for these efforts, discuss post-unberthing activities completed on prior missions, denote scheduled operations on upcoming flights, and explore potential opportunities for the aerospace community to consider in the future. This paper will also give an overview of the primary Cygnus resupply mission for context. The intent of this paper is to inform the AIAA community on existing Cygnus spacecraft capabilities that can be utilized for a variety of commercial, engineering, scientific or other proposed activities once our primary mission is complete and how best work with Orbital ATK to develop these proposals.