FAST Nimitz – A Powerful, Highly Mobile Platform to Address Space Debris in Any Orbit

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Integrated Defense SystemsPhantom Works

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.


Integrated Defense Systems | Phantom Works

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited

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




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




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




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




FAST Enables Very High Power Electric Propulsion and an Order-of-Magnitude Greater Delta-V

6

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




Boeing Has Demonstrated Fully Autonomous Rendezvous (with or without client aids)

7




Orbital Express Demonstrated Fully Autonomous RPO from 200 KM in to 10 CM

8




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




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




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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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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FAST Nimitz – A Powerful, Highly Mobile Platform to Address Space Debris in Any Orbit

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