GSSF2013: SSTL, Boeing and SpaceX show that small can be beautiful

In a session on small satellites, SSTL, Boeing and SpaceX showed how new technologies are driving down the size and cost of effective spacecraft.
Time Aerospace thumbnail

Steve Young, Marketing Director of UK-based SSTL, showed that it is now possible to build an effective earth observation satellite that can fit on a coffee table.

The company, which has its routes as a spin-off from the University of Surrey, has been building small satellites since the 1980s.
 
Now majority-owned by EADS-Astrium and with around 550 staff, SSTL first pioneered "commercial off the shelf" (COTS) satellite technology, taking standard consumer technology, such as used in personal computers, and adapting it to the space environment.
 
SSTL has now delivered 40 satellites (similar to the one pictured) into orbit with many more in the pipeline.
 
The company has a wide range of customers. Its satellites cover both technology demonstration, such as the STRaND-1 satellite, launched earlier this year and which uses mobile phone technology, to earth monitoring, such as the RapidEye family of satellites, launched from Baikonur in 2008.
 
The RapidEye system enables global monitoring of the Earth’s surface, providing the rapid delivery of land information products and services to the agricultural industry for crop monitoring and mapping, yield predictions and natural disaster assessment.
 
“SSTL has been able to develop international leadership in small satellite constellations, such as the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), with key export markets to both established and emerging space nations worldwide. And all 22 payloads for the Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites are being manufactured by us in the UK,” Young said.
 
At the same time Boeing, who are not usually known for building tiny satellites by any means, have now developed an all-electric satellite that can manoeuvre itself into the final orbital position using efficient plasma thrusters.
 
Steve O'Neill, Boeing's President, Satellite Systems, said that this effectively reduces the mass of the satellite, which brings down the launch costs and therefore the overall insurance premiums too.
 
"Boeing currently has 20 satellites using electro-propulsion for station keeping, but this next step is game-changing. In five-eight years time all-electric satellite propulsion will be commonplace."
 
All-electric satellites use xenon gas, which is ionised and then propelled using high voltages out of the back of the spacecraft. A satellite can carry enough xenon for 15-20 years use.
 
In can take up to six months for an electrically-propelled satellite to reach its final orbital position, but they can be built faster, so the overall time frame can be similar to that of getting a rocket-powered spacecraft to orbit, O'Neill said.
 
The GSSF also heard from SpaceX's Christophe Bauer. The company is pioneering commercial access to space. It says it will be able to deliver a 5.3 tonne geostationary satellite to orbit for $60m by 2016.
 
"We are also working on a reusable first stage that could bring that down to $40m," said Bauer. He showed a video of its "Grasshopper" launcher being tested, which could form the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.
 
The footage showed the rocket take off, rise to around 250m and then land again perfectly, exactly where it took off. The idea is that the first stage launcher could be recovered and used again, without it being dropped in the sea - which effectively wrecks it.
 
"When introduced this could take a 2.3 tonne spacecraft to geostationary orbit, or a 5 tonne satellite to low-earth orbit, for $40m," he said. "We are the only company that states our launch prices on our web site – what you see is what you pay," he concluded.

 

Steve Nichols

Steve Nichols

Steve (BSc Hons, FIIC) is a journalist and communicator with more than 35 years' experience.