On Saturday, a Northrop Grumman spacecraft designed to give a dying satellite a new lease on life was launched into space. The goal is to hang on to an aging satellite that has been in space for 16 years and can extend the life of the old robot in orbit by giving it a new set of engines and fuel.
The spacecraft is called MEV-2, for Mission Extension Vehicle 2. The predecessor of MEV-2 was the groundbreaking MEV-1 satellite, which launched in October 2019. MEV-1 made history in February when it successfully had grip of another satellite already in orbit, marking the first time that two commercial satellites had been in space. The target of MEV-1 was a commission-free communications satellite called Intelsat 901, which has been in space for nearly 20 years. After docking with Intelsat 901, MEV-1 nodded the satellite into a new orbit, allowing the spacecraft to resume operation and extend its life by at least another five years.
MEV-1 successfully demonstrates a concept known as satellite service – an emerging industry focused on sending handy satellites into space to repair, repair or repair other satellites already in orbit to upgrade. Now, with MEV-2, Northrop Grumman will try it again. “It’s very similar,” said Joe Anderson, vice president of operations and business development at Space Logistics, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman that oversees the MEV missions. The edge. “MEV-2 is essentially a carbon copy of MEV-1 from a design point of view.”
However, MEV-2 will try a few new things over time in its space. For one thing, it is aimed at a different kind of satellite than the MEV-1 wrangled. Intelsat 901 no longer worked and lay in an orbit above the Earth, often referred to as the ‘cemetery.’ Satellites that run many thousands of miles above the planet are moved to the cemetery’s orbit when they are running on fuel, so they do not get in the way of one when they become unusable. MEV-1 plucked Intelsat 901 from the orbit and put it back in a coveted region known as geosynchronous orbit – a path above Earth where satellites correspond to the rotation of the planet and apparently always hover over the same patch of air. The geosynchronous belt is a fairly critical orbit for satellites, home to a lot of communications and Earth-observing probes.
MEV-2 intends to name another Intelsat communications vehicle Intelsat 10-02, but this spaceship is not in the churchyard. It still works actively in geosynchronous orbit along with many other critical – and expensive – satellites. In fact, Intelsat will carry 10-02 communications, while MEV-2 will try to dock next year. Anderson says it will let Intelsat customers know they can experience a brief Intelsat 10-02 streaming experience if MEV-2 crashes. “If we do that docking, it disturbs their point a little bit, but it should be very transient,” Anderson says. ‘It must be pretty short; it would certainly be less than 20 minutes. ”
The docking of MEV-2 will use the same sensors and routinely establish that MEV-1 uses. However, MEV-2 does not need to move Intelsat 10-02 to a new location. “We’ll just dock at them, and then take over the job and the attitude control and keep them in that same station that they are today,” Anderson says. In essence, MEV-2 will act as a new engine and fuel tank, and will help keep Intelsat 10-02 stable for at least five years. Intelsat 10-02 is now running low on fuel, so MEV-2 will ensure that the satellite can continue for a while longer before it has to be moved to the churchyard.
It is possible that MEV-2 will be added for longer if Intelsat wants to sign another contract. However, both MEVs are designed to serve multiple satellites over the next 15 years, according to Anderson. That other satellites may benefit from MEV-1 or MEV-2 in the future. Anderson did not say how much it would cost to build an MEV car, but Intelsat said earlier that the company Northrop Grumman will pay $ 13 million a year to hook up MEV-1 to Intelsat 901 for five years.
Anderson says these orders for satellite services are a ‘business growth area’ for Space Logistics and Northrop Grumman. Going forward, the company is focusing on a new type of service called the Mission Robotic Vehicle, or MRV, which should take satellite tune-ups to a whole new level. Thanks to a partnership with DARPA, MRV will be able to do what the MEV satellites can do, but it will also be able to add “pods” to satellites that deliver propulsion on their own, and extend the life of a satellite by a maximum of six years. Anderson notes that the MRV will indeed be a multiservice satellite, capable of performing various types of repairs, apart from providing additional propulsions. “That robotic car can do other types of services, such as detailed inspections, complete repairs,” he says. ‘For example, if someone has a fixed solar array, like an antenna, we might be able to use our robotic system to make that commitment. It can also grab at the client cars and drag them and also move to other buses. “
The first MRV is not set to launch until 2023, so for now, the docking of MEV-2 is the next big event for Space Logistics. Docking is expected for February and March 2021, at which point we will see if MEV-2 can replicate the historic docking of its predecessor, possibly advancing the satellite services sector.
