Upgrading In-service Spacecraft with On-orbit Attachable Capabilities

摘要

Missions change, markets change, and operating environments change, but satellites are typically unchanged for their entire lives. The Hubble Space Telescope was a rare exception to this rule. The ability to upgrade an operational satellite using robotic manipulators and autonomous operations, without human presence, was demonstrated by the DARPA-Boeing Orbital Express program in 2007. The public-private DARPA-SSL Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program aims to provide a longer-life servicing capability, bringing a suite of new capabilities to the satellite constellation in geosynchronous orbit (GEO): inspection, tug/relocation, anomaly resolution, refueling, and on-orbit upgrade. Once in place, the RSGS servicing vehicle would be available for spacecraft operators to contract for its use over its anticipated 8- to 15-year lifetime. While inspection, refueling, tugging, and anomaly resolution deal with client space vehicles as-is, the upgrade service would open a new frontier of opportunities to maximize the utility of in-space assets by increasing (or replacing) mission capabilities. It also has implications for improved mission assurance, reduced cost for GEO operations, and more frequent technology refresh. This paper considers: types of upgrade payloads that may be compelling to develop; methods to deliver upgrade components to RSGS for installation on a host spacecraft in GEO; a scale of increasingly complex interconnection approaches between an upgrade package and a host vehicle (from simple mechanical clamp-on all the way to plugging into the host's power/data bus); and other considerations for GEO satellite operators, science payload developers, national security planners, and even entrepreneurs to evaluate. With the advent of on-orbit servicing capabilities, the static nature of satellite capabilities and configurations is on the verge of a dramatic change.