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ELSA-D Launch Press Kit 2021 ELSA-D Launch Press Kit 2021

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ELSA-D Launch Press Kit 2021 ELSA-D Launch Press Kit 2021 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Contents Introducing ELSA-d ..................................................... 3 ELSA-d Key Features .................................................. 5 Docking Plate ................................................................. 5 Mission Overview .......................................................... 6 Mission ConOps ............................................................ 7 Mission Statistics ........................................................... 10 In-Orbit Servicing Control Centre ......................... 10 Launch .............................................................................. 11 About Astroscale.......................................................... 12 www.astroscale.com 2 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Introducing ELSA-d Creating a sustainable space environment Every day billions of people around the world rely improve quality of life on Earth. They will also lead on data from satellites to go about their lives. We to an increase in the number of objects in key exchange messages, talk to family and friends, check orbits, raising the risk of further debris creation the weather and manage finances. Satellites are and threatening the very services space systems also used to manage and mitigate natural disasters, provide. The European Space Agency estimates the monitor the Earth’s climate and provide national 3,600 working satellites share their orbits with 9,200 security information. In short, without satellite data, tonnes of space debris, or an estimated 28,200 the lives of people around the world would be very debris objects tracked by the Space Surveillance different. And now the source of this data is at Network. With over 10,000 satellites scheduled growing risk of being destroyed by space debris. to launch in LEO over the next 10 years, we need pro-active strategies for post-mission debris disposal The rise of large commercial satellite constellations to maintain the safe use of LEO orbits for the benefit in low Earth orbit (LEO) will provide services that of humankind. www.astroscale.com 3 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Introducing ELSA-d Electromagnetic compatibility testing in February 2020 Vibration testing at JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center in February 2020 The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale (ELSA) replica debris fitted with a ferromagnetic plate program is a spacecraft retrieval service for satellite that enables the docking. The servicer will operators. ELSA-d (demonstration) is the first repeatedly release and dock with the client in mission to demonstrate the core technologies a series of technical demonstrations, proving the necessary for debris docking and removal. capability to find and dock with defunct satellites and other debris. Demonstrations include client ELSA-d consists of two spacecraft: a servicer search, client inspection, client rendezvous, and satellite (~175kg) and a client satellite (~17kg), both non-tumbling and tumbling docking. launched stacked together. The servicer satellite ELSA-d will be operated by Astroscale’s Mission has been developed to safely remove debris Operations and Ground Segment teams from the objects from orbit, equipped with proximity In-orbit Servicing Control Centre – National rendezvous technologies and a magnetic docking Facility at Satellite Applications Catapult, Harwell mechanism. The client satellite is a piece of Campus, UK. Prelaunch checks at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in February 2021 www.astroscale.com 4 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 ELSA-d Key Features l End-to-end rendezvous solution including far-range and short-range approaches l Client search and approach from far- range with relative navigation sensors l Fly-around inspections of client with operator assessment l Docking plate to future proof satellites to enable their removal if they fail in future l At-night magnetic capture of non-tumbling and tumbling clients l Re-orbit, de-orbit and passivation capabilities l Safety evacuations and passively safe trajectories in mission design l Full ground segment, custom- designed for on-orbit servicing Docking Plate he docking plate (DP) is a core part of ELSA-d’s Trendezvous suite, providing a point of contact on the client for a magnetic capture system and an optically controlled surface for Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC). The ELSA-d grappling interface is designed to be mounted on a client satellite and consists of the flat, disc-shaped DP on top of a supporting stand-off structure. It provides distinctive features that make a defunct satellite easier to identify, assess, approach, capture and de-orbit, thus minimizing future costs of removal. Specific characteristics of the DP on ELSA-d include optical markers for guidance and navigation in proximity operations, and ferromagnetic material suitable for magnetic grappling. www.astroscale.com 5 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Mission Overview he ELSA-d mission will demonstrate several capabilities and technologies needed for future on-orbit Tservices. While the ELSA-d mission will prove technologies that can be directly applied to customers, there are some slight differences to a future servicing mission. For the ELSA-d mission, the client is The mission ConOps is divided into seven phases. commandable, ensuring demonstrations can The phases are designed to generally increase in be tested in a simplified manner earlier in the complexity, ensuring less risky demonstrations are mission. For example, before tumbling capture attempted first. is attempted, the easier case of non-tumbling capture will be attempted, which requires the Phase 1 LEOP client to hold a set orientation. The Concept of Operations (ConOps) is designed to gradually Phase 2 Commissioning increase the complexity and risk with each phase and can be adjusted because the servicer is Phase 3 Capture without tumbling launched together with the client. Phase 4 Capture with tumbling This compares to a full commercial service where the significant task of finding the client would be Phase 5 Diagnosis and Client Search among the first mission actions. In addition to an advanced magnetic rendezvous and docking Phase 6 Re-orbit suite capture system, the spacecraft will include other elements of a classical satellite bus: power, Phase 7 Closeout propulsion, communications and processing. See ELSA-d’s ConOps in action www.astroscale.com 6 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Mission ConOps Servicer Client Initial orbit (~550km) Separation Release Release Initial descent maneuver Navigation tech TMA maneuver & Diagnosis Natural check-out dance rehearsal demo decay Inter-demo C&R Inter-demo C&R Passivation and de-orbit Capture w/o Capture Client search tumbling w tumbling demo Capture w/o tumbling Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7 LEOP Commissioning Capture w/o Capture Diagnosis & Re-orbit Closeout Tumbling w Tumbling Client Search Phase 1 to 2: Launch and Early Orbit Phase and Commissioning The servicer and client are launched together into 3 an operational orbit of roughly 550km. The servicer undergoes commissioning, testing interfaces with the ground segment and ensuring subsystems are calibrated, resulting in a system ready to start the demonstrations. The client is activated using the client activation unit and undergoes the majority of its commissioning prior to separation. Phase 3: Capture without tumbling A client separation mechanism holds the client and servicer together during launch, and Phase 3 is the first time the client separates. Once separated, the magnetic capture system is used to repeatedly capture and release the client, so the separation mechanism is no longer in use. The servicer has the ability to position itself at set distances behind the client, which are defined as specific holding points. The servicer performs a navigation check- out and calibration using its rendezvous sensors. Phase 3 – Capture without tumbling www.astroscale.com 7 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Mission ConOps (continued) 4 Phase 4 – Capture with tumbling This is the first time these sensors can be tested in Phase 5: space since they can’t be tested while the client is Diagnosis and client search docked. Finally, the client is commanded to hold a set orientation and the servicer goes in for capture, In the diagnosis, the client separates from the using the docking plate on the client for guidance. servicer, and the servicer performs a fly-around in daylight to inspect the client. Client inspection is a Phase 4: key capability for future missions, where operators Capture with tumbling will have to analyze a client and make a go/no-go decision on capture. This phase is a more dynamically complex version of Phase 3, where full tumbling capture is performed. The phase also includes a rehearsal to attempt the demonstration before finally going for the final capture. In the demonstration, the client is commanded to follow a natural tumbling motion, 5 typical of uncontrolled objects in space, such as debris. Part of the capture involves taking images of the tumbling client. The image data is processed on the ground and commands are uploaded to tell the servicer where to maneuver. The Flight Dynamics System (FDS) aligns the servicer and client before capture. This “dance” is the necessary motion and alignment needed during the tumbling capture. Phase 5 – Diagnosis and client search www.astroscale.com 8 ELSA-d Launch Press Kit 2021 Mission ConOps (continued) In the client search demonstration, an initial client search and approach is simulated. The Phase
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