Author Topic: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing  (Read 47844 times)

Offline arachnitect

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CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« on: 06/17/2015 04:31 am »
Descendent of RRM I guess.

Hadn't heard of it until today.
« Last Edit: 04/24/2020 02:32 am by gongora »

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #1 on: 06/17/2015 04:54 am »
The refuelling hardware on the Restore-L are government furnished equipment. Are they a copy of the equipment attached to the ISS's Dextre? Or something from the Department of Defence?

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #2 on: 06/17/2015 04:58 am »
Sounds like this is taylor made for OrbitalATK ViviSat. The picture even looks the same.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/03/22/sat-servicing/


Offline arachnitect

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #3 on: 06/17/2015 02:28 pm »
The refuelling hardware on the Restore-L are government furnished equipment. Are they a copy of the equipment attached to the ISS's Dextre? Or something from the Department of Defence?

The people in charge of this are the people doing the experiments on ISS, so it's probably pretty similar to that.

Offline mainmind

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #4 on: 12/16/2015 03:05 pm »
This also gets a mention in the 2016 omnibus budget with $133 million for the effort:

http://spacenews.com/nasa-receives-19-3-billion-in-final-2016-spending-bill/

And apparently has a request for information floating out there that is related to the Asteroid Redirect mission:
http://www.coloradospacenews.com/nasa-seeks-additional-information-for-asteroid-redirect-mission-spacecraft/


Offline savuporo

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #5 on: 04/25/2016 02:55 am »
NASA site

http://ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov/restore-l.html
LAUNCH DATE: Late 2019

Darpa RSGS has very similar goals. Also looks like DLR signed a 4.5M eur DEOS Phase B2 contract recently with Airbus
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline Comga

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #6 on: 11/27/2016 08:15 pm »
The refuelling hardware on the Restore-L are government furnished equipment. Are they a copy of the equipment attached to the ISS's Dextre? Or something from the Department of Defense?

The people in charge of this are the people doing the experiments on ISS, so it's probably pretty similar to that.

The lidar unit is currently planned to be another like that built for the STORRM experiment on STS-134, the one on the ISS RRM, and the one in Raven going up in STP-H5 on the upcoming SpX-10.  Modifications are minor, so yes A_M_Swallow's guess is correct.  This is coming out of NASA GSFC.
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Offline jacqmans

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #7 on: 12/06/2016 09:40 am »
December 05, 2016
CONTRACT RELEASE C16-032

NASA Awards Contract for Refueling Mission Spacecraft

NASA has awarded the Restore-L Spacecraft Bus and Support Services contract to Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, California. Restore-L is a robotic spacecraft equipped with the tools, technologies and techniques needed to service satellites currently in orbit.

The contract has a firm-fixed-price and includes a three-year core period and a two-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion. The total maximum value of the contract is $127 million.

Space Systems/Loral will provide spacecraft bus, critical hardware and services for the development, deployment and operations of the Restore-L mission. They also will provide related services to accomplish mission integration, test, launch and operations.

The Restore-L Project is managed within NASA’s Satellite Servicing Projects Division at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

The Satellite Servicing Projects Division at Goddard was established in 2009 to continue NASA’s 40-year legacy of satellite servicing and repair. Restore-L is a free-flying mission projected to launch in 2020 to perform in-orbit satellite servicing on an operational government asset in low-Earth orbit.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov
Jacques :-)

Offline ZachS09

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #8 on: 12/06/2016 03:09 pm »
Collectspace's similar article says that Landsat 7, which was launched in April 1999 atop a Delta II, will be refueled by Restore-L in 2020.

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum33/HTML/000661.html
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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #9 on: 12/08/2016 02:09 am »
Collectspace's similar article says that Landsat 7, which was launched in April 1999 atop a Delta II, will be refueled by Restore-L in 2020.

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum33/HTML/000661.html
An interesting, indirect connection, IIRC:
One of the Vandenberg Shuttle flights was to be a refueling of Landsat 4 or 5.  They were constructed with larger than otherwise needed propellant tanks so the satellite would have sufficient propellant to lower its orbit prior to the Shuttle rendezvousing with it.
« Last Edit: 12/08/2016 02:10 am by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #10 on: 12/08/2016 02:12 am »
Collectspace's similar article says that Landsat 7, which was launched in April 1999 atop a Delta II, will be refueled by Restore-L in 2020.

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum33/HTML/000661.html
Collectspace's similar article says that Landsat 7, which was launched in April 1999 atop a Delta II, will be refueled by Restore-L in 2020.

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum33/HTML/000661.html
An interesting, indirect connection, IIRC:
One of the Vandenberg Shuttle flights was to be a refueling of Landsat 4 or 5.  They were constructed with larger than otherwise needed propellant tanks so it would have sufficient propellant to lower its orbit prior to the Shuttle rendezvousing with it.
Restore-L's full name is Restore-Landsat Servicing Mission which was recently shortened to just Restore-L.

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #11 on: 12/08/2016 04:36 am »
BUMP:
Manufacturing contract has been awarded: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41781.0

Offline gosnold

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #12 on: 01/14/2017 09:19 am »
FISO presentation on sat servicing, including restore-L:

http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/%7Efiso/telecon/Reed_1-11-17/

Offline Hobbes-22

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #13 on: 01/14/2017 07:28 pm »
I'm kinda disappointed they didn't go with the name Restore-R  :P

Offline jongoff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #14 on: 01/15/2017 03:06 am »
FISO presentation on sat servicing, including restore-L:

http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/%7Efiso/telecon/Reed_1-11-17/

That was my first FISO telecon I had the chance to listen to live (it's usually a bad time of the week for me). I really liked some of the last slides, where they were talking about "low-hanging fruit" initiatives they were working on for making future spacecraft more readily serviceable. Like adding optical fiducial "stickers" to the back of the spacecraft, or developing a robotic fueling interface that seems to be similar size and weight to existing less-serviceable connections.

Also interesting to hear that in ~14 months they'll be launching RRM-3 to ISS, which will include a cryo methane transfer experiment.

~Jon

Offline jongoff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #15 on: 01/15/2017 03:07 am »
I'm kinda disappointed they didn't go with the name Restore-R  :P

Isn't the L for "LandSat" the satellite they're targeting for servicing?

~Jon

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #16 on: 01/15/2017 09:55 am »
I'm kinda disappointed they didn't go with the name Restore-R  :P

Isn't the L for "LandSat" the satellite they're targeting for servicing?

~Jon

L is for "low earth orbit". There was also a study for RESTORE-G for a "geostationary orbit" mission.

Offline TakeOff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #17 on: 01/18/2017 06:54 am »
Why refuel satellites? Why not let the "Restore-L" instead tug the satellite with its own engine? It should be much easier and safer and one doesn't need to care about what fuel type the satellite originally had.

Offline Jim

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #18 on: 01/18/2017 12:49 pm »
Why refuel satellites? Why not let the "Restore-L" instead tug the satellite with its own engine? It should be much easier and safer and one doesn't need to care about what fuel type the satellite originally had.

Because a "tug" isn't needed.  No "engine" is need.  The propellant is for attitude control.  Attaching another spacecraft is not that simple.  The mass properties of the stack is different.  The attached spacecraft would interfere with look angles of sensors and instruments.  It would require sending commands to two spacecraft to point and take data.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #19 on: 01/18/2017 05:52 pm »
Why refuel satellites? Why not let the "Restore-L" instead tug the satellite with its own engine? It should be much easier and safer and one doesn't need to care about what fuel type the satellite originally had.

Because a "tug" isn't needed.  No "engine" is need.  The propellant is for attitude control.  Attaching another spacecraft is not that simple.  The mass properties of the stack is different.  The attached spacecraft would interfere with look angles of sensors and instruments.  It would require sending commands to two spacecraft to point and take data.
OrbitalATK intend to start with a space tug then evolve it add servicing and refuelling capabilities to it. The space tug will latch onto satellite engine bell and take over all propulsion jobs. Have signed customers for 2019-2020 launch.See OA thread for more info.

What the tugs needs is away to refuel themselves from a upper stage or newly deployed satellite. ACES would be ideal for this as it should have endurance to enable rendezvous with tug after its initial mission. Tug refuels from secondary payload tanks. As extra bonus tug could attach dead satellite to ACES for disposal.

Offline Jim

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #20 on: 01/18/2017 06:02 pm »

OrbitalATK intend to start with a space tug then evolve it add servicing and refuelling capabilities to it. The space tug will latch onto satellite engine bell and take over all propulsion jobs. Have signed customers for 2019-2020 launch.See OA thread for more info.


That is for GEO comsats, which have different requirements than a LEO spacecraft.  GEO Comsats only point in one direction and have the same basic design.  Also, then again, they don't need a "tug" with an engine.  Just some station keeping thrusters.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #21 on: 01/18/2017 07:01 pm »



  Also, then again, they don't need a "tug" with an engine.  Just some station keeping thrusters.

One market OA tug will address is repositioning GEO satellites. Allows satellite to conserve its fuel for station keeping.

The following is my idea may not be practical.
If tug is available to place satellite in grave yard orbit, then satellite can also use fuel reserved for disposal to extend its life.

Offline TakeOff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #22 on: 01/19/2017 08:00 pm »
Why refuel satellites? Why not let the "Restore-L" instead tug the satellite with its own engine? It should be much easier and safer and one doesn't need to care about what fuel type the satellite originally had.

Because a "tug" isn't needed.  No "engine" is need.  The propellant is for attitude control.  Attaching another spacecraft is not that simple.  The mass properties of the stack is different.  The attached spacecraft would interfere with look angles of sensors and instruments.  It would require sending commands to two spacecraft to point and take data.
Hubble is pointed with reaction wheels and was boosted to higher altitude by the space shuttle. Wouldn't that be applicable to many satellites in LEO, but with a small tug in place of the shuttle? During satellite operations the tug could be undocked and at standby nearby until next orbital correction is needed, or go off to another servicing mission.

What about designing satellites such that its fuel tank with thrusters is replaceable? When it is getting empty, it is undocked and discarded while a tug brings a new identical fuel tank with thrusters to replace it. No need then to transfer fuel in microgravity.
« Last Edit: 01/19/2017 08:01 pm by TakeOff »

Offline Jim

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #23 on: 01/20/2017 11:07 am »

Hubble is pointed with reaction wheels and was boosted to higher altitude by the space shuttle. Wouldn't that be applicable to many satellites in LEO, but with a small tug in place of the shuttle? During satellite operations the tug could be undocked and at standby nearby until next orbital correction is needed, or go off to another servicing mission.


Hubble was an exception.  It was designed for shuttle servicing and hence had to be in a low orbit that would require reboost.   There few to no other like Hubble.  Most spacecraft are placed is orbits driven by science and the requirements and not be low enough for shuttle servicing.  Hubble should have resided at L2 like JWST and SIRTF for scienc[quote



What about designing satellites such that its fuel tank with thrusters is replaceable? When it is getting empty, it is undocked and discarded while a tug brings a new identical fuel tank with thrusters to replace it. No need then to transfer fuel in microgravity.

That doesn't place the thrusters in the locations.  Also, the propellant is not near the CG


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #24 on: 01/20/2017 02:08 pm »
Talking of JWST, guy from Restore L fiso webcast is trying to convince JWST team to paint a pattern on JWST which makes capturing it easier. JWST is not serviceable but that doesn't stop a tug attaching its self and taking over propulsion. Could even bring it back to cis lunar station for investigation if not repair.

Offline jongoff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #25 on: 01/21/2017 01:52 am »
Talking of JWST, guy from Restore L fiso webcast is trying to convince JWST team to paint a pattern on JWST which makes capturing it easier. JWST is not serviceable but that doesn't stop a tug attaching its self and taking over propulsion. Could even bring it back to cis lunar station for investigation if not repair.

It's called an optical fiducial. Basically it's a very precise shape/pattern that a machine vision system can use to tell what your relative pose (angles) and position to the object are, just by looking at it. Super useful for rendezvous and capture operations, and the stickers to do so weigh only a few grams each if done right.

~Jon

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #26 on: 01/21/2017 05:28 pm »
It is, however, optional. It just makes machine vision easier. But could be done without it.
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Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #27 on: 01/21/2017 05:46 pm »
Repair of satellites by crews at DSH could be reality. It would require likes of OA tug to haul them from GEO to DSH. Probably not financially viable for comsats but $B government satellite is different story.

Offline Lar

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #28 on: 01/22/2017 03:38 am »
It is, however, optional. It just makes machine vision easier. But could be done without it.
Worth a few grams though, I think...?
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Offline Comga

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #29 on: 01/22/2017 04:01 am »
(Snip)
Hubble should have resided at L2 like JWST and SIRTF for science
(snip)

SIRTF/Spitzer is not at L2 ;D
And don't "should" all over Hubble. It is what it is for good, and not so good, reasons.
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline Targeteer

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #30 on: 08/08/2017 03:10 pm »
https://sslmda.com/html/pressreleases/pr20170808.php

https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/video/RestoreConOpsTechTakeoverRevA.m4v

SSL AND NASA SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEW FOR TRAILBLAZING RESTORE-L ON-ORBIT ROBOTIC SERVICING SPACECRAFT
Program Will Extend the Life of Space Assets and Benefits Science, Exploration, and National Security Missions

PALO ALTO, Calif. – August 8, 2017 — Space Systems Loral (SSL), a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, today announced that it successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for NASA’s Restore-L mission to provide satellite servicing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).  With the completion of the PDR, Restore-L is proceeding on schedule to the next phase of development and its launch in 2020.

As announced last year, SSL is working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Satellite Servicing Projects Division (SSPD), to build a spacecraft that will change the nature of how infrastructure in space is managed by, for the first time in history, refueling a satellite in orbit that was not designed for servicing.  Restore-L will use robotics and an advanced suite of technologies to grasp and refuel an existing U.S. government satellite already in LEO with the goal of extending the operational lifetime of space assets, as well as to demonstrate the tools, technologies, and techniques that will help enable future space exploration missions and a new U.S. satellite servicing industry.

The design review took place over a three-day period at SSL’s facilities and demonstrated that the Restore-L design meets system requirements.  Due to the success of the PDR, Restore-L will now proceed to the detailed design phase.

The SSL-built spacecraft will provide the structural support, propulsion, attitude control, data and communications interface, and power to support the Restore-L robotic payload for the trailblazing on-orbit demonstration.

“Satellite servicing in Low Earth Orbit is of great value for NASA exploration and science architectures as well as national security,” said Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems.  “With the PDR successfully completed, we are on track to developing a capability that helps maintain our country’s international position as a leader in advanced space technology.  In addition to enabling high value assets to continue to be used, Restore-L will test crosscutting technologies that have applications for other important NASA missions.”

NASA is also leveraging SSL’s commercial capabilities and experience to help reduce cost on a variety of next-generation missions that enable groundbreaking robotics and automation technologies.  These include a NASA Discovery Mission to explore the asteroid Psyche, and the Dragonfly program, which will demonstrate robotic  satellite assembly on-orbit.
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Online gongora

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #31 on: 08/09/2017 03:21 am »
[SpacePolicyOnline.com] RESTORE-L Passes PDR As Future Remains Cloudy
Quote
NASA’s satellite servicing technology development and demonstration mission, Restore-L, passed a milestone today, successfully clearing Preliminary Design Review (PDR).  The Trump Administration wants to downscale the program significantly however, and while the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have rallied to its defense, only one approved the money needed to keep it on course.
...

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #32 on: 04/24/2020 02:34 am »
04.23.2020
OSAM-1 (Formerly Restore-L) Continues to Make Progress, Fuel Tank Installed
By: Maxar Technologies

Even spacecraft designed to refuel other spacecraft need their own fuel tank. This crucial piece of hardware was installed last week on the On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM-1) spacecraft, formerly called Restore-L, that Maxar is building for NASA.

OSAM-1 will – for the first time in history – refuel a satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) not designed to be serviced. In doing so, the program will validate many of the essential tools, techniques and technologies to enable future science and space exploration missions, bolster national security and spur the development of innovative commercial platforms and businesses.

OSAM-1’s design is based on Maxar’s decades-proven 1300-class spacecraft platform, which offers a powerful mix of reliability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness for the mission. Maxar is also leveraging the 1300-class spacecraft platform for the Power and Propulsion Element of NASA’s Artemis program, and the Psyche metallic asteroid exploration mission. NASA’s TEMPO science payload is also being flown as a hosted payload on a 1300-based GEO mission. As the world’s most popular commercial spacecraft platform, there are more than 92 1300-class spacecraft on orbit today.

Maxar is also building three robotic arms for the OSAM-1 mission, two of which will be used for the refueling mission. The other robotic arm, part of the SPIDER demonstration, will be used to demonstrate groundbreaking and fundamental technologies for sustainable space exploration, including the in-space assembly of large-scale segmented antenna reflectors and manufacturing of a composite beam while on-orbit. Maxar has teamed with the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center to provide independent verification of SPIDER’s capabilities through multiple performance studies.

Now that OSAM-1’s fuel tank has been integrated, Maxar’s team in Palo Alto will move on to completing the propulsion module and continuing the bus integration and test with an anticipated delivery to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, next year. For more information on OSAM-1, visit explorespace.maxar.com/moon/restore-l/.

Pictures
1. Maxar technicians prepare to install OSAM-1’s fuel tank (egg-shaped object) by lifting it up with a crane.
2. The fuel tank is carefully installed inside OSAM-1’s main spacecraft structure.

Offline Yiosie

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #33 on: 10/12/2021 01:14 am »
Belated update from May 2021:

NASA’s On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 Mission Ready for Spacecraft Build [dated May 5]

Quote
NASA is one step closer to robotically refueling a satellite and demonstrating in-space assembly and manufacturing thanks to the completion of an important milestone.

In April 2021, NASA and Maxar Technologies successfully completed the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission spacecraft accommodation Critical Design Review (CDR). This milestone demonstrates that the maturity of the design for the OSAM-1 spacecraft bus is appropriate to support proceeding with fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing.

OSAM-1 will, for the first time ever, robotically refuel a U.S. government satellite not designed to be serviced. The spacecraft will consist of a servicing payload, provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with two robotic arms that will be attached to the spacecraft bus. The bus will also incorporate a payload called Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER) that will demonstrate in-space assembly and manufacturing. SPIDER will use a third robotic arm to assemble a communications antenna and an element called MakerSat built by Tethers Unlimited to manufacture a beam. The spacecraft bus and SPIDER are being built by Maxar Technologies.

This image, taken by Maxar in their Palo Alto, California, facility, features the OSAM-1 spacecraft bus under development. The 14-foot-tall bus will provide OSAM-1 with power and the ability to maneuver in orbit. To make these maneuvers possible, inside the main cylinder are two large bi-propellant tanks, and the upper and lower deck of the spacecraft feature thrusters. The two silver spheres are filled with mono-propellant fuel that will be used to provide OSAM-1’s target client satellite, Landsat 7, with more fuel to demonstrate that robotically refueling a satellite is possible.

Upon completion of the OSAM-1 spacecraft bus and related testing at Maxar’s facilities in mid-2022, it will be sent to Goddard. NASA will complete the integration and testing of the OSAM-1 components, including the spacecraft bus, servicing payload, and SPIDER, in preparation for launch.

OSAM-1 is funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through its Technology Demonstration Missions program.

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #34 on: 03/06/2023 02:36 pm »
https://twitter.com/nasasatservices/status/1632756238717972486

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Recently, the @NASA’s On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project management team visited @Maxar in California to view progress on the OSAM-1 spacecraft bus. Later this year, the spacecraft will journey to @NASAGoddard for final integration and testing.

Offline Yiosie

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #35 on: 12/03/2023 01:37 am »
Spacecraft Bus for Satellite Servicing Mission Arrives at NASA Goddard [dated Sept. 22]

Quote from: NASA
On Sept. 20, 2023, the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) spacecraft bus arrived at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, after its journey from a Maxar facility in California. Following this critical milestone, engineers at Goddard can begin to integrate the mission’s servicing payload onto the bus and begin to test the integrated spacecraft in simulated space environments.

When integration and testing are complete, OSAM-1 will be ready to demonstrate robotic satellite servicing technologies in space. The OSAM-1 mission is planned to be the first to robotically refuel a spacecraft not designed for on-orbit servicing. The servicer will rendezvous with, grapple, and berth the government-owned Landsat 7 spacecraft, and then use a suite of tools to replenish its hydrazine fuel tank.

In addition to the mission’s servicing objectives, OSAM-1 will also include an assembly demonstration provided by commercial partner Maxar, the same company that provided the spacecraft bus. That demonstration will use a robotic arm from the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER) payload to assemble a functional Ka-band antenna on orbit from stowed hexagonal pieces.

Previously, the mission included a manufacturing demonstration called MakerSat, which planned to use the SPIDER arm to manufacture a beam. However, that component of the mission has been descoped as mission managers refocus resources on the servicing and assembly components of the mission.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #37 on: 03/01/2024 03:44 pm »
mission has been cancelled.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/on-orbit-servicing-assembly-and-manufacturing-1/

Relevant paragraph:

Quote
Following an in-depth, independent project review, NASA has decided to discontinue the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project due to continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges, and a broader community evolution away from refueling unprepared spacecraft, which has led to a lack of a committed partner. Following Congressional notification processes, project management plans to complete an orderly shutdown, including the disposition of sensitive hardware, pursuing potential partnerships or alternative hardware uses, and licensing of applicable technological developments. NASA leadership also is reviewing how to mitigate the impact of the cancellation on the workforce at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #38 on: 03/01/2024 07:58 pm »
More of the same news:

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1763637524826599487

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1763664084245921952

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NASA is shutting down the OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1) project, for which Maxar was a prime contractor.

Quote
OSAM-1 was years behind schedule and expected to cost over $2 billion:

NASA's Inspector General published a detailed report on the OSAM-1 project in October 2023, going into detail about "Maxar’s poor performance:"

Atricle:  https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-24-002.pdf

Quote
Maxar was "no longer profiting from their work on OSAM-1" and the project no longer appeared "to be a high priority for Maxar in terms of the quality of its staffing."

Article:  https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/nasa-shuts-down-maxar-led-osam-1-satellite-refueling-project.html
« Last Edit: 03/01/2024 08:00 pm by russianhalo117 »
It's Tony De La Rosa, ...I don't create this stuff, I just report it.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #39 on: 03/01/2024 08:25 pm »
Good decision, that program was a mess.  No reason to put all of that stuff on a single satellite.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #40 on: 03/01/2024 09:42 pm »
Shades of Psyche?

Offline Blackstar

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #41 on: 03/01/2024 10:54 pm »
Shades of Psyche?

No. This was a technology sandbox at Goddard. I saw the early work on it at Goddard in August 2012. Attached is a photo I took during that visit. At the upper right you can see an antenna. That was a model of (I think) a NOAA weather satellite that they were supposedly going to service in GEO. It was an uncooperative target. In the lab they would maneuver a robotic arm to track the model to simulate that work in space. You can also see some test panels there near the robot arm. The arm would unscrew caps over fueling systems, pull and insert plugs, and so on. The thing that supposedly made this work unique was that the targets would not have been designed to be serviced, so the servicing spacecraft would have to do things like cut into fuel lines and so on. Seemed totally nutty. Just design the satellites to be serviced and ignore the ones that could not be serviced and that tough problem was solved, right?

I think this was called NASA's Robotic Servicing Facility. They had earmarked money, which I think was put in their budget by Senator Mikulski. This was the kind of project that just seemed to make no real sense, leading people to speculate that it was cover for an NRO research program. But we talked to some people about it and figured out that the person who ran the lab at Goddard had made a pitch to Mikulski and that's how it ended up in the budget. Classic case of somebody finding a powerful patron in Congress.

This kind of stuff happens at every NASA center--they do technology research work that they claim will have great promise, but which never gets any closer to actual deployment and seems primarily intended to keep people busy. Various NASA administrators have tried to deal with that over the years and they've never been successful at making it go away, or at integrating the work into a specific agenda.

My guess is that somehow the political support to keep this going finally ran out. Dunno why it happened now, dunno why it did not happen years ago. Mikulski has been gone a long time.
« Last Edit: 03/01/2024 10:57 pm by Blackstar »

Offline Blackstar

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #42 on: 03/01/2024 11:09 pm »
https://spacenews.com/nasa-cancels-osam-1-satellite-servicing-technology-mission/

"Bo Naasz, who leads satellite servicing capability development at NASA, acknowledged the difficulty in developing a spacecraft designed to refuel a spacecraft “not prepared” for servicing. “It’s really hard,” he said. He argued the value of OSAM-1 was to demonstrate robotic technologies that could be transferred for other applications while gaining experience in satellite servicing."

Yeah, we asked that question 12 years ago. If it's really hard, why not just not do it? Why not only service spacecraft that are designed for servicing? It just didn't make much sense. This was an earmarked project.

Offline jongoff

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #43 on: 03/02/2024 05:18 am »
Yeah, we asked that question 12 years ago. If it's really hard, why not just not do it? Why not only service spacecraft that are designed for servicing? It just didn't make much sense. This was an earmarked project.

At least part of the challenge is that there's a chicken and egg problem with design for serviceability -- nobody wants to design a satellite for serviceability unless there are existing servicing capabilities that they know they can count on at a reasonable price. But on the flip side, it's really challenging to get investors to put money into a satellite servicing capability when people aren't buying services and aren't designing their satellites for servicing. So, servicing unprepared clients means that you can sell services to existing customers, rather than trying to get people to buy interfaces then waiting for them to have a need.

But I think NG demonstrated that for propulsion, attaching a jetpack (ala their MEV or MEPs attached by their MRV) is way easier than trying to MacGyver your way through fill/drain valve closeouts that were never intended to be serviceable. That's the direction that most of the industry players going after providing life extension to legacy satellites have decided on (NG, Astroscale, Atomos, etc).

~Jon

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #44 on: 03/02/2024 05:08 pm »
But I think NG demonstrated that for propulsion, attaching a jetpack (ala their MEV or MEPs attached by their MRV) is way easier than trying to MacGyver your way through fill/drain valve closeouts that were never intended to be serviceable. That's the direction that most of the industry players going after providing life extension to legacy satellites have decided on (NG, Astroscale, Atomos, etc).

I have vague memory that we asked about refueling. We were told that satellites often have fill valves that are completely sealed after fueling and cannot be reopened. It's not like a screwcap on a car's gas tank. We asked why satellite designers couldn't simply design the fill valve with a screwcap or something similar that could be opened again. The answer was leaks, they want a system that won't leak. I could have some of that wrong, but like so many things, there are specific reasons why systems are designed the way they are, and it's not because the designers are dumb, it's because they are trying to address known problems.

But the Goddard effort in 2012 seemed like they were not serving a need, they were playing around with their technology. Maybe they reoriented the program and it made more sense. Dunno.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #45 on: 03/02/2024 05:27 pm »
I do not understand the economics of satellite refuelling. Can someone check me on this?

A satellite in orbit can either be refuelled or replaced. If refuelled, its life is extended . If replaced, the newer satellite would presumably have a longer life than the extended life of a old satellite and would benefit from newer technology. Thus the cost of the refuelling mission needs to be considerable lower than the cost of a replacement mission.

But launch costs are now dramatically lower than they were in 2012 when OSAM-1 was being contemplated. Sure this lowers the cost of a refuelling mission, but it also lowers the cost of a replacement mission, including the cost of the replacement satellite. It seems like the potential customer base of refuelling candidates is vanishingly small.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #46 on: 03/02/2024 09:09 pm »
I do not understand the economics of satellite refuelling. Can someone check me on this?


I'm sure that this has been discussed to death on another thread here somewhere. But your puzzlement is appropriate. The most common analogy I've heard is that nobody repairs a 10-year-old computer, they just replace it because the technology is so much better.

Now there are responses to that, such as extending the life of a satellite by maybe 25%-50% could be worthwhile if the servicing cost is low enough, but there are responses to that as well. In the years that companies have been looking at satellite servicing (since approximately 2010), we've now seen the development of LEO megaconstellations that have undermined the GEO comsat market that was considered the primary target for servicing, so the market case may be even weaker now than just five years ago.

The same technological advances that may make satellite servicing feasible may also make it unnecessary.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #47 on: 03/02/2024 09:17 pm »
For a lot of satellite business, the "newer technology" argument doesn't necessarily win out.  For video broadcasting the existing technology might be just fine to continue for another decade.  Also a lot of the newer satellite designs haven't exactly proven their ability to be delivered on schedule with high reliability yet.  On the government side where new satellites can take decades and cost billions, life extension must also look pretty good for a lot of them.

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #48 on: 03/02/2024 09:40 pm »
But I think NG demonstrated that for propulsion, attaching a jetpack (ala their MEV or MEPs attached by their MRV) is way easier than trying to MacGyver your way through fill/drain valve closeouts that were never intended to be serviceable. That's the direction that most of the industry players going after providing life extension to legacy satellites have decided on (NG, Astroscale, Atomos, etc).

I have vague memory that we asked about refueling. We were told that satellites often have fill valves that are completely sealed after fueling and cannot be reopened. It's not like a screwcap on a car's gas tank. We asked why satellite designers couldn't simply design the fill valve with a screwcap or something similar that could be opened again. The answer was leaks, they want a system that won't leak. I could have some of that wrong, but like so many things, there are specific reasons why systems are designed the way they are, and it's not because the designers are dumb, it's because they are trying to address known problems.

But the Goddard effort in 2012 seemed like they were not serving a need, they were playing around with their technology. Maybe they reoriented the program and it made more sense. Dunno.

Yeah, the traditional fill drain valve was safety wired closed, then a cap was screwed on top that was safety wired on, then another cap on top of that, also safety wired on. What Goddard created was a robot that could do that reliably. Which is pretty complicated, and impressive, but also not cheap. The MEV solution was just a lot simpler way of solving the problem. Theoretically there are some spacecraft that the jet pack would be hard to use with -- like spysats that do rapid slewing -- hard to do that with a big mass clamped to your back through a not-infinitely-stiff interface. They would've preferred unprepared refueling, but the NRO guys seemed pretty dismissive of satellite servicing. I'm not 100% convinced that they are actually right.

~Jon

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #49 on: 03/02/2024 09:48 pm »
I do not understand the economics of satellite refuelling. Can someone check me on this?

A satellite in orbit can either be refuelled or replaced. If refuelled, its life is extended . If replaced, the newer satellite would presumably have a longer life than the extended life of a old satellite and would benefit from newer technology. Thus the cost of the refuelling mission needs to be considerable lower than the cost of a replacement mission.

But launch costs are now dramatically lower than they were in 2012 when OSAM-1 was being contemplated. Sure this lowers the cost of a refuelling mission, but it also lowers the cost of a replacement mission, including the cost of the replacement satellite. It seems like the potential customer base of refuelling candidates is vanishingly small.

And yet, several companies are finding customers who want life extension services, and the DoD is actively funding cooperative refueling missions...

You're missing a few things:

1- Especially in several popular orbits (at least some popular SSO planes and GEO, but quite possibly others), it's quite possible for a refueler to perform a large number of missions, with you only having to periodically launch refueling pods -- often to orbits you're going to anyway so they can be rideshares taking up what would otherwise be unused launch capacity.
2- The DoD is interested in refueling because right now with a non-refuelable spacecraft, any maneuvering you need (to deal with the fact that space is now a contested environment) directly reduces the life of the spacecraft, potentially dramatically. Refueling allows them to not have to throw out a still relatively new spacecraft just because hostile actions made them maneuver more often.

I could go on, but I think most people in satellite operations (other than maybe megaconstellation operators) see the value in refueling or jet pack services, either for life extension or maneuver without regret.

~Jon

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #50 on: 03/05/2024 04:36 pm »
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/nasa-cancels-a-multibillion-dollar-satellite-servicing-demo-mission/


"A report by NASA's inspector general last year outlined the mission's delays and cost overruns. Since 2016, the space agency has requested $808 million from Congress for Restore-L and OSAM-1. Lawmakers responded by giving NASA nearly $1.5 billion to fund the development of the mission, nearly double what NASA said it wanted."


Note how that is consistent with what I posted above, that this project had earmarked money from Congress.

« Last Edit: 03/05/2024 05:16 pm by Blackstar »

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #51 on: 03/06/2024 03:24 am »
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/nasa-cancels-a-multibillion-dollar-satellite-servicing-demo-mission/


"A report by NASA's inspector general last year outlined the mission's delays and cost overruns. Since 2016, the space agency has requested $808 million from Congress for Restore-L and OSAM-1. Lawmakers responded by giving NASA nearly $1.5 billion to fund the development of the mission, nearly double what NASA said it wanted."


Note how that is consistent with what I posted above, that this project had earmarked money from Congress.

Absolutely. If Mikulski hadn't been the Senator from the same state as Goddard, there's zero chance it would've gotten the level of support it did. The thing that surprised me is how much it kept getting funding even after Mikulski retired.

~Jon

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #52 on: 03/06/2024 03:14 pm »
Absolutely. If Mikulski hadn't been the Senator from the same state as Goddard, there's zero chance it would've gotten the level of support it did. The thing that surprised me is how much it kept getting funding even after Mikulski retired.

Yes, I vaguely remember that when we discussed this back in 2012 (we were doing a review of NASA's strategic direction), somebody said that the person who ran that lab at Goddard was just really good at selling his work to Congress. And I vaguely remember that the center director at the time was unhappy about that, because he didn't have control over what work his center did and did not do.

It's something that you discover when you get involved with how NASA actually works, that there are always centers and even individual labs within centers that can make end runs around the leadership.

As to how they continued getting money after Mikulski left, I am as puzzled as you.

As a sidenote, DART at APL was something similar. If you look at the public record (Aviation Week, Space News, any other public sources) you will be hard-pressed to find out how and why that mission happened. But that too was an earmarked mission where somebody managed to get Congress on board even though NASA leadership didn't want it to happen. So these things are not uncommon.
« Last Edit: 03/16/2024 10:26 pm by Blackstar »

Offline Comga

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #53 on: 03/06/2024 04:51 pm »
Absolutely. If Mikulski hadn't been the Senator from the same state as Goddard, there's zero chance it would've gotten the level of support it did. The thing that surprised me is how much it kept getting funding even after Mikulski retired.

Yes, I vaguely remember that when we discussed this back in 2012 (we were doing a review of NASA's strategic direction), somebody said that the person who ran that lab at Goddard was just really good at selling his work to Congress. And I vaguely remember that the center director at the time was unhappy about that, because he didn't have control over what work his center did and did not do.

It's something that you discover when you get involved with how NASA actually works, that there are always centers and even individual labs within centers that can make end runs around the leadership.

As to how they continued getting money after Mikulski left, I am as puzzled as you.

As a sidenote, DART at APL was something similar. If you look at the public record (Aviation Week, Space News, any other public sources) you will be hard-pressed to find out how and why that mission happened. But that too was an earmarked mission where somebody managed to get Congress on board even though NASA leadership didn't want it to happen. So these things are not uncommon.

Frank Cepollina?

Great accomplishments, widely respected, repeatedly awarded, indefatigable.  Made his name on the Hubble servicing missions, which were technical triumphs for the Shuttle program.

OTOH a former colleague who worked with/for him for years had a bumper sticker tacked to a bulletin board that poked fun at “Cepi” (and which I will not quote because it really wasn’t nice)

But his arguments for satellite servicing were economic, and flawed. They only worked if the cost of the Shuttle was discounted.  Those arguments got even worse over time.  Plus much of the successful servicing technology, mostly Hubble, was done at contractors, Ball Aerospace predominantly.  Bringing the work in house to GSFC undid that dynamic.
« Last Edit: 03/06/2024 05:15 pm by Comga »
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline Emmettvonbrown

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #54 on: 03/07/2024 11:41 am »
Cepollina - yes. Heard about this name doing my research. This harcks back to Solar Max successfull repair back in the day: the so-called MMS bus: MultiMission Spacecraft. Custom designed for shuttle servicing, like Hubble except multiple medium-size satellites.

Offline jimvela

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #55 on: 03/18/2024 04:04 pm »
Plus much of the successful servicing technology, mostly Hubble, was done at contractors, Ball Aerospace predominantly.  Bringing the work in house to GSFC undid that dynamic.

This is very true.  It was a real privilege to see the Hubble servicing work my colleagues did at Ball.
They also did a bunch of preliminary work for an autonomous servicing mission after the final STS servicing mission.

I can't resist a little anecdote. 

I happened to be present when a former Ball president was giving a tour to a group from NASA and NOAA in the Ball Fisher manufacturing facility.

They stopped at a picture of the Hubble, and this now former president of Ball (ex- GFSC ) fumbled a description of the work Ball did as well as the activities of the astronauts who flew the mission.  There was a bit of an awkward pause at one point, and one of the NOAA / Former NASA folks responded with (I'll paraphrase.)

"I know a lot about that mission.  I was an astronaut assigned to work on Hubble servicing while at NASA."

(My perception is that she was very much NOT impressed with the fellow's fumbling.)

I'm very proud to have charged a few hundreds of hours in very minor roles supporting the Hubble servicing work at Ball.
« Last Edit: 03/18/2024 04:04 pm by jimvela »

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #56 on: 03/23/2024 08:53 pm »
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/Display/Article/3712146/pla-on-orbit-satellite-logistics/


PLA On-Orbit Satellite Logistics

    Published March 18, 2024
    China Aerospace Studies Institute

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is preparing its satellite operators to perform on-orbit satellite refueling, for peacetime and wartime space logistics.  They are also already integrating lessons learned into corresponding military doctrine and training tools.  To further ready a PLA in-space logistics force, a Chinese defense contractor has indicated, for the last six years, that it has a mission ready satellite refueler for geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).  With more clarity on the PLA’s requirements for satellite logistics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has approved new commercial players to enter the field to provide, not only technology, but also frameworks to shape international norms.  These developments have largely gone unnoticed, perhaps because of an overemphasis on a low probability satellite grappling event.








pdf is attached.
« Last Edit: 03/23/2024 08:54 pm by Blackstar »

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #59 on: 07/28/2024 08:38 pm »
Senate spending bill pushes back on proposed NASA mission cuts

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While the bill broadly supports the administration’s request, it does criticize some decisions by NASA to cancel or cut missions. That includes the On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) 1 mission to demonstrate satellite servicing technologies that NASA announced in March its intent to cancel. NASA requested $11 million for OSAM-1 in 2025 to close out the project.

The Senate report, though, directs NASA to spend up to $174.5 million on OSAM-1 in 2025, pending a report requested by the 2024 appropriations bill on how the mission can meet a 2026 launch. The Senate language seeks a new report not later than 30 days after the final bill is enacted on those plans, as well as the potential for cost-sharing with the Defense Department and use of the spacecraft in an extended mission for national security or commercial applications.

Offline StraumliBlight

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #60 on: 09/06/2024 07:45 pm »
OSAM-1 Partnership Opportunity: Request for Information [Sep 6]

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NASA is exploring potential partnerships for alternate use cases for the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) flight hardware, test facilities, and experienced personnel. Through a Request for Information for OSAM-1 Partnerships released Sept. 5, 2024, NASA seeks interest from U.S. organizations that will benefit commercial, civil, and national objectives, thereby advancing domestic leadership in In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities. 

A comprehensive list of OSAM-1 resources and technologies organizations can consider using are outlined in the full Request for Information for OSAM-1 Partnerships available at www.sam.gov. Responses are due Sept. 30, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Offline Blackstar

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Re: CANCELLED: NASA OSAM-1 (Restore-L) LEO servicing
« Reply #61 on: 09/06/2024 09:46 pm »
https://spacenews.com/nasa-reaffirms-decision-to-cancel-osam-1/

NASA reaffirms decision to cancel OSAM-1
Jeff Foust September 5, 2024   

OSAM-1   
The OSAM-1 satellite servicing technology demonstration mission suffered significant cost and schedule overruns. Credit: NASA
Updated Sept. 6 with OSAM-1 RFI details.

WASHINGTON — NASA is proceeding with plans to shut down a satellite servicing mission at the end of the month after rejecting a proposal to revise the mission to meet a 2026 launch date.

In a statement posted online Sept. 5, NASA announced it would proceed with closing out the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project, ending work on the mission at the end of the current fiscal year, which concludes Sept. 30.

NASA announced March 1 that it had decided to cancel the mission, which was years behind schedule and far over budget. A fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill enacted later that month, though, directed NASA to develop a plan that would revise OSAM-1 in a way that could allow it to launch in 2026.

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