The experts on the panel included:

• Rebecca Reesman, a member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation
• Tim Deaver, the Corporate Vice President of Development at SES Space and Defense
• Todd Master, the Program Manager of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA
• Al Tadros, the Vice President of Civil and DoD Business at SSL
• Joe Anderson, the Director of Mission Extension Vehicle Services at Orbital ATK

In my initial recap of the discussion, I looked at the technologies and new advancements that are making on-orbit servicing possible. I also explained why commercial satellite operators were so excited about the potential of servicing their satellites once they’re up in space. Now, I’d like to take a look at the specific government applications of this technology and the future advancements that on-orbit servicing could enable.

Similar but not exactly the same
As to be expected, many of the benefits that on-orbit servicing would deliver to the commercial satellite industry would be welcomed by the U.S. government and military. Those benefits included being able to service and refuel a satellite that has been launched to extend its life or help it bounce back from an anomaly. In fact, the government’s acquisition process may even make it more essential that satellites can be refueled and serviced in space.

As Todd Master discussed during the panel, “While the DoD isn’t new to long development timelines and expensive satellites, acquisitions have in some ways gotten away from us more and more in the last decade or two and these systems are incredibly expensive, but also incredibly valuable…”

As Todd pointed out, military satellites are a major expense to taxpayers. They also can take a long time to design, develop, build and launch. With satellites so mission-critical to the military, any anomaly that denies them the use of one or more satellites could eliminate important capabilities and have a significant, negative effect on the military’s ability to accomplish their mission.

Waiting to restore these services and capabilities until a new satellite can be launched would border on catastrophic. Being able to bring satellites back on-line via on-orbit servicing and repair would ultimately be faster, cheaper and more efficient – while also improving mission readiness and preparedness.

As space becomes more contested and our adversaries become increasingly capable of denying our satellite capabilities, this becomes increasingly important. But another potential, more futuristic solution could prove even more essential.

Why stop at servicing…?
If we’re going to have robots service and refuel satellites on orbit, why stop there? Why not look even bigger picture? Why not shoot for something even more impressive and futuristic?

When our military designed its satellites in the past, they were designing them for a benign environment. There were no adversaries with our space capabilities, and the thought that our satellite capabilities could be denied probably sounded like something out of a science fiction novel or movie. As a result, no defensive systems were necessary, so no defensive systems were built onto satellites.

Well, science fiction has become reality. Our adversaries have become increasingly advanced and capable – and now our satellites are no longer operating in a veritable safe space. This sentiment was echoed by Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the Commander of Air Force Space Command, in a memo to his personnel back in October, in which he wrote, “Space and cyberspace are no longer benign environments, they are contested operational domains.”

If we’re capable of interacting with satellites in space – refueling and repairing them – what is to keep us from taking the next logical step and adding capability to them? If satellites were built originally without defensive capability because that wasn’t necessary, could it be added by similar robotic means as in-orbit servicing?

The panelists and attendees from the commercial space industry were practically challenged to create that capability by Todd when he said, “…we’re seeing an increase in threats in space. The ability to…potentially add capabilities – such as defensive capabilities – is attractive.”

This ability to add payloads to existing satellites could come in handy for more than just adding defensive capabilities to existing military satellites.

Opening the door to more hosted payloads
Hosted payloads – the hosting of military payloads on commercially owned and operated satellites – is viewed across the government and industry as a way to help get military payloads into space faster and at a fraction of the cost. Ultimately, hosting payloads on commercial satellites allows the government to “hitch a ride” into space for its payload without having to build and launch a spacecraft itself.

Traditionally, this has been done while the satellite is still being built on Earth, but the ability to add payloads to on-orbit satellites could open the door to even more hosted payloads in the future – especially since this process would eliminate one of the largest challenges facing government hosted payloads today.

We reached out to Todd Gossett, the Senior Director of Hosted Payload Programs at SES Space and Defense to inquire into whether adding military payloads to commercial satellite on-orbit would be of interest to both parties, and why. According to Todd:

“That’s a good question, and the answer is,‘yes.’ One of biggest concerns keeping the federal government from embracing more hosted payload programs is that their payload won’t be ready in time to be mounted and tested on the satellite prior to the launch window. If payloads could be mounted following launch, it would eliminate this challenge. It could even be beneficial for sensitive payloads, since commercial partners on Earth would never need to interact with them.”

That’s good news to both the military and to taxpayers. Hosted payloads are widely viewed as a way to help increase the defensive posture of the military satellite network and architecture, since they effectively hide and distribute military payloads across commercial constellations. They’re also cheaper, which is great news for military budgets and the taxpayers footing the bill.

On-orbit servicing is exciting for the near-term capabilities it could enable – refueling and repairing already-launched satellites. It’s also exciting for the capabilities it could enable well into the future – which could include the addition of payloads to satellites in space, or even the construction of satellites in space. Regardless of which of those capabilities comes to fruition, it’s safe to say that the commercial space industry has a new area in which to innovate, and that new, exhilarating technologies could be on the horizon – technologies that deliver capabilities once thought impossible or unfeasible.

The post The government and military merits of on-orbit servicing appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

The panel discussion featured a veritable “who’s who” of space industry and government experts, including:

• Rebecca Reesman, a member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation
• Tim Deaver, the Corporate Vice President of Development at SES Space and Defense
• Todd Master, the Program Manager of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA
• Al Tadros, the Vice President of Civil and DoD Business at SSL
• Joe Anderson, the Director of Mission Extension Vehicle Services at Orbital ATK

This group of experts was assembled because they all are either driving on-orbit servicing, or will ultimately benefit from it. During their sometimes intense and overall riveting conversation, they defined on-orbit servicing, looked at the ways it can help the commercial satellite industry and even delved into the future technologies that could evolve and emerge from early on-orbit servicing solutions.

Based on the discussion between these individuals, it’s becoming increasingly clear that on-orbit servicing could be right around the corner and it could be an exciting and important new industry in space. So let’s explore how it works, and why it’s so exciting.

The “how” of on-orbit servicing
The concept of having commercial on-orbit servicing of satellites isn’t necessarily a new one – it’s something that the industry has flirted with for a while. However, it’s only now starting to look like a reality and less like science fiction.

There are obvious restrictions on what humans can do in space, but robots are not bound to those limitations, and advancements in robotics are just one of the multiple new technologies driving on-orbit servicing forward.

If you couple new innovations in robotics with new propulsion technologies, the evolution of advanced sensors and other advancements, and the concept of having a robot service a satellite in space suddenly seams surprisingly feasible.

Al Tadros summed this up well during the panel discussion when he said, “There were definitely some key technologies that evolved over the last ten years that are critical to satellite servicing…Robotics…is advancing quite a bit…making it not such a stretch of the imagination to do satellite servicing. There’s a number of elements that have culminated to make it not only technically feasible, but also economically feasible to do commercial satellite servicing.”

What we now have is a culmination and coming together of multiple exciting technologies and advancements that are making it completely possible to approach, interact with and service a satellite that has been built and launched into orbit. Commercial space companies are looking to make this a service that they offer to the government and commercial satellite operators.

So, that explains how on-orbit servicing is becoming a reality, but why? Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should – or that there’s a demand for it. However, in this instance, the demand could be far greater than some would imagine – especially among COMSATCOM operators.

The “why” of on-orbit servicing
To this day, once a satellite is in orbit, there’s currently no feasible way to make repairs to it. Should an anomaly arise, there really is no recourse for the satellite operator.

Aside from the repair issue, there’s also the issue of fuel. Perfectly good, functioning satellites often reach their end of life simply because they run out of fuel and have to be decommissioned.

The concept of on-orbit servicing could – in theory – fix all of that. Utilizing advanced robotics to conduct operations in space that a human simply can’t. Satellites could be repaired or refueled to help extend their life. This is a proposition that’s clearly exciting for commercial satellite operators because it gives them the ability to reduce or mitigate the losses from anomalies, while also prolonging the life of exceptionally expensive spacecraft that are already in orbit.

This point was reinforced by Tim Deaver during the panel discussion, when he said, “If a satellite program is going to cost us $300M to get up into orbit and it’s only going to last us 15 years, that’s about $20M a year in costs. If I can refuel it and get three more years for a reasonable cost…it makes economic sense.”

It’s going to make even more economic sense for commercial operators in the near future. The trend towards HTS satellites and the sheer numbers of “birds” in the sky has led to a decrease in bandwidth costs, as an influx of capacity has hit the market. As the cost for capacity decreases, it becomes even more essential for operators to maximize the life – and subsequently the revenue generated – from every satellite they launch.

As Tim said, “For us it’s about making sense in the marketplace. As we see the downturn in the price of capacity onboard and the revenue that we can generate from a satellite, it becomes about how do we get cheaper satellites, how do we get cheaper launch, and what can we do to satellites that are up in orbit that are still working well, but are getting to the end of [their] fuel life.”

It’s for this reason that Tim claims SES will be one of the first customers for Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) when it’s available.

However, the commercial industry isn’t the only group interested in on-orbit servicing of satellites. There are tremendous government and military use cases and opportunities for this technology. In our next article on the Government Satellite Report, we’ll delve into the reasons why the military is excited about this solution, and the unique future capabilities it could enable.

The post WSBR panel discussion illustrates industry interest in on-orbit servicing appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

One of the most exciting and interesting new technologies that was discussed at this year’s conference – surprisingly – wasn’t a topic of a panel discussion, or available to see and play with on the exposition floor. Rather, it was casually mentioned during the Q&A session by Dr. Gordon Roesler, a Program Manager in the Tactical Technology Office (TTO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), following a panel discussion on hosted payloads.

During the aforementioned Q&A session, Dr. Roesler stood up and addressed the panelists about the need to change payloads and otherwise service spacecraft in orbit. He also introduced panel attendees to a new DARPA program that would utilize robotics to do just that.

Enthralled by this new concept and eager to know more, I asked Dr. Roesler to participate in an interview for the GovSat Report, so that he could educate publication readers and staff – alike – about this new program.

Here is what Dr. Roesler had to say:

GovSat Report: During one of the panels at this year’s SATELLITE 2016 Conference, you discussed a new program from DARPA aiming to use robotics to make changes or repairs to satellites in space. What are the main factors driving a program like this forward? What types of missions is DARPA looking to accomplish with this program?

Dr. Roesler: The program is called Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS). The goal of the program is to create a dexterous robotic operational capability in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO), that can both provide increased resilience for the current US space infrastructure, and be the first concrete step toward a transformed space architecture with revolutionary capabilities.

Today, satellites are placed in orbit, but then are never inspected, repaired or upgraded. They have long lifetimes, but the technology on them becomes obsolete, and they cannot keep up with changes on the ground. One driver for RSGS is to change this paradigm, by enabling some of the same kinds of services that are provided to other high-value assets, like aircraft, ships, and communication systems.

Today’s satellites are not designed with servicing in mind. So the key RSGS driver is to  provide valuable services even to satellites that have no special modifications for servicing. DARPA technology development has shown that a robotic servicing vehicle can provide at least four servicing missions to unmodified but cooperative customer satellites: ultra-close inspection; assistance with orbit changes; use of robotic manipulation to correct mechanisms (solar arrays, antennas) that have not deployed correctly; and mechanical installation of upgrade or add-on capabilities.

GovSat Report: What challenges is the military currently having that make this program necessary today?

Dr. Roesler: The United States is expected to derive multiple benefits from this GEO satellite servicing capability. Since GEO contains the largest concentration of unserviced high-value assets – many of which perform critical defense and economic roles – it would be of great value to have a reliable and responsive servicing capability available in GEO.

The U.S. Government operates far more satellites in GEO than any other nation. GEO satellites have experienced failures, malfunctions, schedule delays, coverage gaps, unforeseen maneuvers, and other anomalous events.

Because GEO satellites reside on or near a single orbital path, the RSGS servicer would travel among them with little propellant consumption, enabling it to perform many servicing missions before using up its own propellant. The vehicle could provide inspection, repair, upgrade, and repositioning services to Government spacecraft when required, while deriving revenue from servicing commercial spacecraft.

Specific servicing needs that are unavailable today include inspection to determine the cause of on-orbit anomalies; anomaly resolution to repair malfunctioning satellites; orbit modification for relocation, transfer to the disposal orbit, or correction of propulsion system underperformance; and capability enhancement, the transfer of packages with new capabilities and installation on GEO satellites. The RSGS program targets these services for spacecraft currently on orbit or in production, none of which have been specifically designed to be serviced.

GovSat Report: The concept of removing and replacing payloads in space sounds attractive, but is it necessary? During SATELLITE 2016, we heard many speakers discussing software defined payloads and building flexibility into satellites. We’re also seeing the rise of commercial companies with business models tied to extending the life of spacecraft in orbit. What differentiates this program from these services and from the capabilities that are being built into spacecraft today for agility and flexibility?

Dr. Roesler: While uploading new software is a valuable approach for introducing some new capabilities, so is installing upgraded processors, sensors, communication systems and hardware to avoid obsolescence. The same dexterous, flexible robotic payload being developed for RSGS can execute deployment assistance and close inspection, but is also uniquely capable of doing on-orbit installation.

Life extension is a valuable capability, but is not the focus of the RSGS program, which instead emphasizes dexterous robotic capabilities that are not available today.

GovSat Report: How do you anticipate DARPA developing this new technology? Will this be done as a private/public partnership with industry partners, or as a stand-alone military program? Has there been any interest from private industry in partnering on this program?

Dr. Roesler: The end state of the RSGS program is to be a commercially-owned and -operated robotic servicing vehicle (RSV), which carries the Government-furnished robotic payload.

The vehicle will be developed in partnership with a team including the government, a satellite manufacturer, the eventual owner, and the operator. The commercial team will be able to leverage Government contributions, including the development, manufacture, integration and testing of the robotic payload and its advanced automation and payload mission management software; participation in integration of the payload and bus; a launch vehicle to deliver the RSV to GEO or to GEO transfer orbit; and assistance with operations team training and on-orbit operations.

The robotic payload will be designed for multi-year operations. Numerous US aerospace companies have expressed interest.

GovSat Report: What is the timeframe for such an innovative and ambitious program as this? Is this a capability that the military can expect to have available in the next five years? Ten years? Or this something that won’t be realized until well into the future?

Dr. Roesler: DARPA plans to place the RSGS servicing vehicle on orbit in about five years.

For additional coverage from this year’s SATELLITE 2016 Conference, click on the following articles:

Frustration mounts over lack of government hosted payload adoption 

The capacity is coming, the capacity is coming! Why now is the time for COMSATCOM in the federal government 

How government and industry can make hosted payloads happen – an interview with Earl White

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