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FAST Nimitz – A Powerful, Highly Mobile Platform to Address Space Debris in Any Orbit
Tom KesslerBoeing Advanced Systems(714) [email protected]
10-03-20 – Boeing FAST Nimitz Concept – Approved for Public Release – Revision A2.ppt | 1
The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article/presentation are those of the author/presenter and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the Department of Defense.
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT AApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
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Space Debris Is An Increasing Threat to Both GEO and LEO Operations
Image courtesy of the European Space Operations Centre and Universe Today, 4/11/082
About 40% of ground-trackable space debris come from explosions, now running at four to five per year.
Collisions will exceed explosions as a source of new debris within 20 years
Collisions between live spacecraft and other objects can be mitigated by better tracking
First priorities should be to reduce threats of •Upper stage / spacecraft explosions•‘Dead-on-dead’ debris collisions
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Space Debris is In Many Inclinations And Altitudes
LEO debris is scattered in inclination, Right Ascension, and altitude
Cost effective, timely solution requires that multiple debris objects be engaged per mission/vehicle
“Traveling Salesman Problem”– For a given list of cities (debris targets)
and their pairwise distances (delta-V), what is the shortest possible (least energy) tour that visits each city once.
3Data per “History of On-Orbit Satellite Fragmentations – 14th Edition, NASA Orbital Debris Program OfficeImage courtesy of the European Space Operations Centre and Universe Today, 4/11/08
Effective space-based solution should have high delta-V
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Fabricate a high power and light weight solar electric array Fabricate a high power and light weight solar electric array that can support a wide range of space applications, and that can support a wide range of space applications, and
ground test it in a relevant space environmentground test it in a relevant space environment
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GOALS~30 kWe electrical power
>130 W/kg specific powerScalable to 100 - 1,000 kWe
MCA Solar Performance Characteristics
Sunlight
Thermal Conduction
Radiative Emission
Mechanical / Electrical Link
Mirror Radiator
Solar Cells - 12.5:1 Concentration
23.1m
2.25m
Basic FAST 15 KW Solar Wing Building Block
FAST Program Overview
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Inherent scalability • Design is modular, one array (2 wings) yields ~30 kWe• Modular approach scales up, dimensions by 2X, area by 4X
• Modular: Up to six wings can be flown in tandem for 180 kWe• Scalable: Doubling wing dimensions yields ~720 kWe
• Future technology will scale up power & reduces mass• Scaling up dimensions• Advanced solar cells
Flexible launch vehicle packaging & interface• 4X better packaging efficiency than state of the art• SLV 30 kWe HPGS, packages in
• 1.7m Falcon 1E fairing • Minotaur IV
• EELV Scaled-up 180 kWe system fits in 5m fairing
Inherently survivable/hardened configuration• Laser survivability due to MCA geometry • More radiation tolerant due to shielding of surrounding MCA structure
• Supports multiple passes through Van Allen Radiation Belt
180 kWeor
720 kWe Concept
Big when scaled up…but not too big
Equivalent Acreage
180 kWe
720 kWe
Potential for > 50% increase in specific power in next decade
30 kWe Array in Falcon 1E
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RT time (days) Number of RT
60 13 to 17
100 9 to 11
125 6 to 7
200 4 to 5
Enables LEO to GEO round trips (RT)
Key FAST Features
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FAST Enables Very High Power Electric Propulsion and an Order-of-Magnitude Greater Delta-V
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FAST spacecraft configurations with useful payloads offer 9,000 – 14,000 meters/second of delta-V
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Propellant Mass Fraction (Mp/Mo)
D V (
m/s
ec)
702
601
Dawn
FAST DRM1
HET: 2,000 sec
Biprop: 320 sec
Ion: 4,000 sec
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Boeing Has Demonstrated Fully Autonomous Rendezvous (with or without client aids)
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Orbital Express Demonstrated Fully Autonomous RPO from 200 KM in to 10 CM
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Northrop Grumman-provided hardware demonstrated autonomous transfer of hydrazine propellant to and from the NextSat spacecraft 15 times
– Multiple types of fuel transfers are demonstrated
MDA-provided robotic arm demonstrated eight battery and computer transfers in both directions between the Ball and Boeing spacecraft for both a battery and a flight computer module
Orbital Express Demonstrated Fully Autonomous ORU and Propellant Transfer
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ORU
Nimitz itself can be refueled – further
extending it’s capability and
improving overall economics
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Summary
• FAST Nimitz offers revolutionary capability for debris mission– High Performance – Vast improvement over Bi-Prop propulsion and SOA solar arrays
– Cost effective - This delta-V can allow removal/supersynching of many large GEO or LEO debris objects in a single mission
Boeing’s FAST team has or is demonstrating the key Nimitz technologies– 30 KW High Power Generation System Module– 24 - 30 KW electric propulsion system– Fully autonomous Rendezvous & Proximity Operations GN&C systems for space debris– Highly flexible robotic systems developed under FREND & Orbital Express programs
FAST Nimitz can carry multiple payloads to affect space debris of many types in many useful ways:
– Direct capture/transfer/de-orbit of large debris– Indirect, non co-orbital deployment of de-orbit systems– Etc.
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Metric Bi-Prop FAST with EP Advantage
Total S/C Power 1 kW 30 KW 30x more
Delta-V 1-2 Km/s 9-14 Km/s 5-10x more
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Conclusion
As the leading manufacturer of satellites in the world, Boeing is committed to supporting our customers critical mission operations in space, including effective responses to the space debris issue
Nimitz could deliver, power or otherwise work in concert with many debris mitigation payloads
We are very interested in collaborating with the developers of these systems
Please contact me at – Tom Kessler– Boeing Advanced Systems– (714) 658-4733– [email protected]
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Copyright © 2009 Boeing. All rights reserved.
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Abstract - Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) Nimitz High Energy Spacecraft for Orbital Debris Removal
This paper describes how a space vehicle utilizing a high-power solar array and equipped with advanced high-power solar electric propulsion can be fitted with a capturing system for space debris disposal.
The “NIMITZ” spacecraft, powered by a FAST (Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed) solar concentrator solar array provides 30 – 180 KW for payload or electric propulsion. The FAST solar array, being developed by The Boeing Company under a DARPA contract, is a 30kWe solar concentrator system. When integrated with a space platform equipped with advanced high-power gridded ion or Hall effect thrusters, the space platform is capable of 5,000-15,000 meters/sec delta-V. This capability coupled with a robotic arm with a broad array of end effectors and other capabilities, results in a configuration capable of capturing and/or disposing of any class of space debris in any orbit from LEO to GEO.
Also discussed is the ability to intercept debris and utilize exceptional maneuverability, including the number of objects that can be visited, the time to maneuver between objects, direct rendezvous and proximity operations for large debris transfer, providing remote deployment of deorbit packages, and small/medium removal means, all due to high delta-V capability of NIMITZ.
NIMITZ would be cost effective, removing large debris for one value price and small/medium debris for another. NIMITZ would be timely, removing large debris within days and small/medium debris within weeks, depending upon specific orbit and payload.
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