Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [email protected] 303-939-5964 November 12, 2010
Flight Opportunities for Hosted Payloads on the Iridium NEXT Satellites The purpose of this white paper is to ensure awareness of opportunities for flying sensors as hosted payloads on the commercial communications satellite constellation currently being developed by Iridium Satellite LLC, a subsidiary of Iridium Communications Inc. Referred to as Iridium NEXT, the system of 66 polar-orbiting low- Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is being plannedfor launch by Iridium beginning in 2015. Iridium Communications Inc. is a publicly-held provider of mobile satellite communications services. Iridium NEXT Satellite Launch campaigns are planned to begin in 2015, and the entire system is expected to be operational in 2017. Accommodations for hosted payloads have been incorporated into the design. Detailed interface specifications between the Iridium NEXT spacecraft and the hosted payloads are available. The first generation of Iridium satellites facilitated numerous opportunities for observing the Earth, its atmosphere, oceans, ionosphere, magnetic field and other phenomena for scientists at academic, government, and military institutions. Studies have been sponsored by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an intergovernmental body based in Geneva, to validate the concept of hosting weather and climate related instruments on the Iridium NEXT platforms. The costs associated with hosting payloads on Iridium NEXT are expected to be significantly lower than developing dedicated space missions and the infrastructure required to operate them. This white paper invites consideration of other ideas by the solar and heliophysics scientific communities, and by the space weather operational community. Schedule Urgency The engineering and business processes supporting the development of Iridium NEXT are mature and the system is moving into full development following the selection of Thales Alenia Space France as the prime contractor. Potential users of the hosted payload opportunities should initiate discussions with Iridium as soon as possible. This will enable compatibility studies during 2011 and 2012 to ensure that the final satellite design can accommodate any unique hosting requirements. Hosted payload slots must be reserved through a contract with Iridium. Delivery of the payloads for integration would be expected during 2013-2014. The first launch is planned for 2015, with completion of the constellation deployment in 2017. The Iridium NEXT Constellation When fully deployed and operational, the Iridium NEXT system will contain 66 satellites, 11 in each of 6 orbital planes, 6 in-orbit spares. The circular polar orbits with inclinations of 86.4 degrees provide continuous coverage of 100% of the Earth’s surface. The 780 km altitude has an orbital period of roughly100 minutes for each satellite. Iridium has contracted with Space
A11883 1 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [email protected] 303-939-5964 November 12, 2010
Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, to be the primary launch services provider for Iridium NEXT using Falcon 9 launch vehicles. Individual satellites are expected to have a design life of 10 years. Six in-orbit spares and additional ground spares will help ensure continuity of service in the event of malfunctions.
Each Iridium NEXT satellite will have four cross-links to communicate directly with neighboring satellites, two in its own orbit plane and two in adjacent planes. The Iridium operations infrastructure is expected to provide real-time user command and control to the hosted payloads and real-time relay of data to and from the hosted payload in space. The satellites will fly with one side always facing nadir (pointing at the Earth) and one side facing in the direction of the velocity vector. This pointing is stable to within a 0.45 degrees half cone angle. Accommodations for Hosted Payloads The Iridium NEXT satellites have been designed to accommodate a “standard” payload that meets the specifications shown in the table. These should be considered approximate and subject to change. Detailed interface requirements are available on request from Iridium. There is one hosted payload location available on each satellite. However, multiple instruments may be located within its volume if desired. They must share a common electrical interface to the spacecraft and must conform, in aggregate, to the Iridium NEXT Hosted Payload Specifications interface requirements. Users may contract for slots on multiple satellites if the scientific or operational objectives require or would benefit from more than one sensor. The volume allocated for the hosted payload is on the nadir-facing surface at the leading end of the spacecraft. This location is expected to provide unobstructed viewing directions towards nadir and Earth limb.
A11883 2 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [email protected] 303-939-5964 November 12, 2010
Very limited moving parts will be allowed and only after careful accommodation study. Such a subsystem, e.g., scan mirrors, may not impart disturbances or torques to the spacecraft that would interfere with its primary mission. A spacewire interface is used between the payload and the spacecraft data management system. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (Ball Aerospace) has collaborated with Iridium for accommodation studies of space weather payloads in the past. This relationship can be leveraged to meet specific customer needs regarding heliophysics hosted payloads. Ball Aerospace would be interested in systems engineering services for the interface between the heliophysics community and the Iridium NEXT constellation. Examples of Remote Sensing Using Iridium’s Current Network Applications include communications with, and data relay from, large networks of widely dispersed terrestrial instruments, remote sensing and in-situ measurements by instruments onboard the Iridium satellites. Examples include: Argo profiling floats for global measurement of sea surface temperature, salinity, and currents Tsunami early warning networks Meteorological data buoys Iceberg tracking Fisheries monitoring Atmospheric profiling Magnetometers for Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) Real-time in-situ space weather data These projects have benefited from Iridium’s cost-effective global coverage with continuous real-time command and data availability. Iridium and an international team of independent scientists, weather experts and industrial partners have conducted technical studies for the GEO and for U.S. space and weather agencies. These studies have validated at a high level the technical feasibility and estimated costs of placing certain mission-specific sensors on Iridium NEXT satellites. For example, Iridium has studied at a high level: GPS Radio Occultation (GPSRO) to measure lower atmospheric profiles such as temperature, pressure, and humidity GPSRO to measure electron density profiles in the ionosphere Broad-band radiometers for monitoring the Earth Radiation Budget High precision measurements of Total Solar Irradiance Measurements of other atmospheric constituents (e.g., ozone profiles) Radar altimetry for sea surface topography, including waves and ice Multi-spectral imagers for ocean color and land imaging Instruments for space weather monitoring and forecasting
A11883 3 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [email protected] 303-939-5964 November 12, 2010
Schedule Details, Key Milestones – These are planned dates and subject to change. Date Milestone 2010 Start of full scale development. Feasibility studies and acceptance of slot commitments for hosted payloads. Q1 2012 Continuation of feasibility and risk-reduction studies. Acceptance of slot commitments to ensure deployment with first launch. Q1 2013 System Critical Design Review. Hosted Payload Interface Specification finalized. Slot commitment window closed. Q1 2014 Initial hosted payload delivery to Iridium. Integration and qualification. Q1 2015 First Iridium NEXT launch. Deployment of Iridium NEXT with hosted payloads into orbit. Hosted payload turn on, check out and initial operations. Q2 2017 Launch campaign complete. Q3 2017 Iridium NEXT system operations begin. Full operation of all hosted payloads.
Business Models, Costs The capital and operational costs of placing payloads on Iridium NEXT satellites are in many cases expected to be significantly less than the cost of developing and deploying dedicated satellites and the necessary infrastructure to support them. A study by Futron Corporation has demonstrated this by comparing annualized costs for various sensor missions flown in the past and comparing them to what they might cost on Iridium NEXT. On average, these costs are less than 25% of those of a dedicated mission. The price of deploying a “standard” hosted payload into space on Iridium NEXT consists primarily of a hosting fee paid to Iridium and the cost of the sensors themselves. There is also a modest, non-recurring engineering cost and annual data delivery charges once the data delivery starts. The hosting fee for a single hosted payload slot on Iridium NEXT is expected to be less than $9 million. The total price can be further reduced through volume discounts if the mission calls for a large number of hosted payloads across the constellation. Summary of Benefits of Iridium NEXT Unprecedented geospatial and temporal coverage – 66 interconnected satellites with coverage over entire globe Real-time, low latency relay of data to and from payloads in space Communications backbone provided by the Iridium system itself User control – Data delivery and access to hosted payload, seamlessly through Iridium infrastructure or private gateways Cost effective – Access to space at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated mission Exclusive – No other opportunity like this is likely to become available in the coming decades
A11883 4 Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [email protected] 303-939-5964 November 12, 2010
Contacts To discuss your hosted payload requirements and specifications, please contact: Dr. Dennis Ebbets Space Science Business Development Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. 1600 Commerce Street, Boulder, CO 80301 Phone : (303) 939-5964 E-mail : [email protected]
Dr. Om P. Gupta Director, Strategic Market Development Iridium Satellite LLC Phone +1.703.287.7427 E-mail: [email protected]
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