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Enlarge / Artist’s illustration of the OSAM-1 spacecraft (backside) linking up with the Landsat 7 satellite tv for pc (prime) in orbit.
NASA
NASA has canceled an over-budget, behind-schedule mission to show robotic satellite tv for pc servicing expertise in orbit, pulling the plug on a mission that has price $1.5 billion and doubtless would have price practically $1 billion extra to get to the launch pad.
The On-orbit Servicing, Meeting, and Manufacturing 1 mission, often known as OSAM-1, would have grappled an getting older Landsat satellite tv for pc in orbit and tried to refuel it, whereas additionally demonstrating how a robotic arm might assemble an antenna in area. The spacecraft for the OSAM-1 mission is partially constructed, however NASA introduced Friday that officers determined to cancel the mission “following an in-depth, impartial mission evaluate.”
The area company cited “continued technical, price, and schedule challenges” for the choice to cancel OSAM-1.
Mission creep
The mission’s price has ballooned since NASA formally kicked off the mission in 2016. The mission’s unique scope referred to as for simply the refueling demonstration, however in 2020, officers tacked on the in-orbit meeting goal. This concerned including a posh piece of kit referred to as the House Infrastructure Dexterous Robotic (SPIDER) basically a 16-foot-long (5-meter) robotic arm to assemble seven structural components right into a single Ka-band communications antenna.
The addition of SPIDER meant the mission would launch with three robotic arms, together with two appendages wanted to seize onto the Landsat 7 satellite tv for pc in orbit for the refueling demonstration. With this variation in scope, the identify of the mission modified from Restore-L to OSAM-1.
A report by NASA’s inspector common final yr outlined the mission’s delays and price overruns. Since 2016, the area company has requested $808 million from Congress for Restore-L and OSAM-1. Lawmakers responded by giving NASA practically $1.5 billion to fund the event of the mission, practically double what NASA mentioned it wished.
Commercial
Restore-L, after which OSAM-1, has all the time loved assist from Congress. The mission was managed by NASA’s Goddard House Flight Middle in Maryland. Former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) was a key backer of NASA missions run out of Goddard, together with the James Webb House Telescope. She was the highest Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee when Congress began funding Restore-L in late 2015.
At one time, NASA projected the Restore-L mission would price between $626 million and $753 million and might be prepared for launch within the second half of 2020. That did not occur, and the mission continued dealing with delays and price will increase. The latest public schedule for OSAM-1 confirmed a launch date in 2026.
In 2020, after reshaping the Restore-L mission to change into OSAM-1, NASA formally laid out a price range for the renamed mission. On the time, NASA mentioned it could price $1.78 billion to design, construct, launch, and function. An impartial evaluate board NASA established final yr to look at the OSAM-1 mission estimated the overall mission might price as a lot as $2.35 billion, in keeping with Jimi Russell, a NASA spokesperson.
The realities of the satellite tv for pc servicing market have additionally modified since 2016. There are a number of firms engaged on industrial satellite tv for pc servicing applied sciences, and the satellite tv for pc business has shifted away from refueling unprepared spacecraft, as OSAM-1 would have demonstrated with the Landsat 7 Earth-imaging satellite tv for pc.
As an alternative, firms are focusing extra on extending satellite tv for pc life in different methods. Northrop Grumman has developed the Mission Extension Car, which might latch on to a satellite tv for pc and supply maneuvering functionality with out slicing into the client spacecraft to refuel it. Different firms are taking a look at satellites which might be designed, from the beginning, with refueling ports. The US navy has a want to put gas depots and tankers in orbit to recurrently service its satellites, giving them the power to repeatedly maneuver and burn propellant with out worrying about working out of gas.
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