Starsys, Inc., a SpaceDev Company recently delivered two major subsystems — the Spacecraft-to-Spacecraft Separation System and the Orbital Express Capture System — for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Orbital Express program, under contract with The Boeing Company.
The goal of the Orbital Express program is to validate the feasibility of the robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites. DARPA foresees that Orbital Express-derived satellites will usher-in a revolution in space operations enabling maneuverable and up-gradable satellites supporting critical national security missions, as well as new and enhanced capabilities for civil and commercial space activities.
SpaceDev's Starsys subsystems provide two functions critical to the mission: shock-less separation of the two Orbital Express spacecraft after launch, and capture and docking of the spacecraft prior to servicing.
"The delivery of this mission-enabling technology is a significant technical achievement for SpaceDev and a major milestone in the development of Orbital Express," said Robert Vacek, President of Starsys, Inc., a subsidiary of SpaceDev, Inc. "This program is another example of our ability to provide extraordinary results in complex spacecraft mechanism design and development."
Orbital Express is being developed by DARPA and is scheduled to launch October 2006. A successful Orbital Express demonstration will provide the foundation for developing an operational system that can provide routine on-orbit servicing of existing satellites as well as future space assets.
Additional partners on this team include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Ball Aerospace, Northrop Grumman Space Technology, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc.
