Boeing’s In-Space Repair Kit Can Keep Satellites Running

An unqualified success… a conclusion that now infuses delight into the very soul of folk who work at Boeing, specifically Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, as the firm’s fourth-month demo of the Boeing Orbital Express system in the rigors of space reach their culmination. This mission was sponsored and led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The purpose was to validate on-orbit servicing technologies. The system was tested from March 8th to July 2nd and it met, or exceeded, all of the objectives to become the first spacecraft capable of performing autonomous on-orbit servicing functions.




What does this mean to customers? Quite a lot, actually. Spacecraft lifespan can now be extended through component replacement and refueling through the auspices of proven robotic support. Orbital Express consists of the Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (ASTRO) servicing spacecraft that was built by Boeing. The prototypical, modular nextgen serviceable client spacecraft role was admirably played by Ball Aerospace’s NextSat.



Eight scenarios were played out, all performed in different lighting conditions and approaches. Battery and fuel transfers, computer replacement, separation of the spacecraft to various ranges, far-and near-field rendezvous, proximity ops, approach, capture and mate were all performed. The demo also successfully validated Boeing’s Autonomous Rendezvous and Capture Sensor Systems that ID’d NexSat more than 400 km away. This enabled ASTRO to approach within just a few meters of NextSat while its exact position, attitude and best mating location were determined. Orbital Express team members included NASA, Ball Aerospace, Northrop Grumman Space Technology, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., and Starsys Research. One of the most complex missions ever attempted in space was concluded in mid-July with DARPA decommissioning Orbital Express—St. Louis, Missouri