Misplaced Pages

OSAM-1

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
NASA Spacecraft

OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1) was a 2016-2024 conceptual NASA mission and spacecraft designed to test on-orbit refilling of satellites. The program was cancelled in 2024, two years ahead of its planned launch date. It was initially known as Restore-L.

Originally scheduled to launch in 2020, its launch at the time of cancellation was planned for no earlier than 2026. The primary objective of the concept mission and spacecraft was the complex refueling of Landsat 7, a satellite launched in 1999, that was not designed for on-orbit servicing. This would have involved grasping the satellite with a mechanical arm, gaining access to the satellite's fuel tank by cutting through insulation and wires and unscrewing a bolt, and then attaching a hose to pump in hydrazine fuel. At the time the mission was conceived, it was expected to be the first refueling of a satellite in space, and a demonstration of the potential to repair some of the thousands of active satellites in orbit and keep them in operation for a longer time. Because the satellites now in space were not designed to be serviced, there are significant challenges to doing so successfully.

OSAM-1's second objective, added in 2020, was to deploy a separate robot called SPIDER (Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot) to build a new structure in space. Using robots to build and assemble new structural components from scratch would be an important step towards a type of space-based construction that had been impossible to date.

Description

The OSAM-1 spacecraft was to include:

  • two arms to grapple the target satellite;
  • the attached payload for SPIDER.

History

In 2016, NASA's Restore-L satellite was intended to refuel Landsat 7.

In 2020, SPIDER was added and the name was changed from Restore-L to OSAM-1.

In Feb 2022, OSAM-1 passed its Critical Design Review.

On 04 Sept 2023, NASA notified Congress of their intent to cancel OSAM-1.

On 20 Sept 2023 the satellite bus arrived at NASA Goddard from Maxtor.

On 1 March 2024, NASA announced that OSAM-1 had been cancelled due to "continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges, and a broader community evolution away from refueling unprepared spacecraft."

Cost & legacy

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

At cancellation in 2024, about $2 billion had been invested in the project.

Progression

A subsequent mission, OSAM-2, would have also had two robotic arms. OSAM-2 would have used ModuLink software which is based on xLink. In 2023, NASA decided to conclude the OSAM-2 project without proceeding to a flight demonstration.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kleiner, Kurt (24 February 2022). "Orbiting robots could help fix and fuel satellites in space". Knowable Magazine. doi:10.1146/knowable-022422-1. S2CID 247119849. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  2. ^ Henshaw, Carl Glen; Glassner, Samantha; Naasz, Bo; Roberts, Brian (3 May 2022). "Grappling Spacecraft". Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems. 5: 137–159. doi:10.1146/annurev-control-042920-011106. ISSN 2573-5144. S2CID 242628083. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  3. "OSAM-1 Mission". NASA. Retrieved 10 March 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ Hall, Loura (22 June 2016). "NASA's Restore-L Mission to Refuel Landsat 7, Demonstrate Technologies". NASA. Retrieved 10 March 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. "OSAM-1: Proving Satellite Servicing—Starting with Landsat 7". Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. Announcement from NASA Headquarters
  8. Spacecraft Bus for Satellite Servicing Mission Arrives at NASA Goddard
  9. Foust, Jeff (1 March 2024). "NASA cancels OSAM-1 satellite servicing technology mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  11. Oxford, Clarence (3 March 2024). "NASA Ends $2 Billion Satellite Refueling Project Amid Challenges". Space Daily. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Motiv Space Systems and Blue Origin announce ModuLink". Space War. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  13. "On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 2 (OSAM-2)". NASA. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links

Stub icon

This spacecraft or satellite related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: