British firm Skyrora is one step closer to launching a space tug that can tow satellites in different orbits, replace old satellites and even clean up space junk.
The upper stage of the Skyrora XL rocket successfully completed a critical static fire test at the engine development complex in Fife, Scotland just before Christmas.
This top stage of the rocket also doubles as a mission-ready Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) that can perform a number of space missions after delivering its payload.
Edinburgh-based Skyrora hopes that by the end of next year or early 2023, they will be able to launch the OTV, along with the small satellites that can be carried in it, on top of the XL rocket from one of Scotland’s spaceports.
They say this is a huge step for the UK space industry as it will allow them to provide space services and launch satellites from UK soil.
The upper stage of the Skyrora XL missile successfully completed a crucial static fire test at the engine development complex in Fife, Scotland, just before Christmas
On December 23, the Skyrora test and flight operations team conducted one of their most important test campaigns to date, a static fire test in the upper stage.
The engine burns for 450 seconds over the course of three fires and it included a fully integrated setup of the engine, power systems, avionics and flight software.
The vehicle can put payloads into orbit – and once in space, it can perform multiple missions, including replacing redundant satellites or removing clutter.
Skyrora CEO, Volodymyr Levykin, said; “Our goal has always been to be ready for the mission once all regulations and permissions have been put in place, and this development not only brings us closer to that point, but also takes us beyond launch readiness.
“We have been deliberately silent on this aspect of our Skyrora XL launch vehicle as we had technical challenges to get to this stage and we wanted to make sure all tests had a satisfactory result, which is what they have now.”
The engine burns for 450 seconds over the course of three fires and it included a fully integrated installation of the engine, power systems, avionics and flight software
He said there is a great shortage of good news in the current climate, so they wanted to make sure it worked well before sharing it with the world.
“It is important to show that even in challenging times we are still a country that continues to innovate and lead the way in some lofty ambitions,” said Levykin.
With OneWeb looking to launch more than 600 smallsats and SpaceX to build a Starlink constellation of 42,000 satellites, there will be as much demand for space operations as there are launch services, Skyrora believes.
Skyrora’s third phase OTV will meet that demand while performing initial launch flights from new satellites, the company says.
To date, the company has conducted a series of rigorous engine tests, but this latest exercise involved a fully integrated installation.
This included the engine, flight weight construction and power systems, avionics and the full flight computer software that will be used in Skyrora XL’s maiden flight – sometime next year or early 2023.
The test involved the flight software and the structure of the vehicle as the vehicle performed a full series of engine burns and maneuvers simulating the flight of the upper stage in orbit above Earth.
Passing this test takes Skyrora one step closer to the completion of their XL vehicle.
The OTV has the ability to reference its engine multiple times allowing it to perform multiple missions in a single trip making it highly configurable.
“The Skyrora upper stage is a historic first not only for the company, but also for the UK aerospace industry, as it is the first ‘mission-ready’ vehicle of its kind to be developed in the country,” said Skyrora Head of Engineering, Dr. Jack James Marlow.
In the mid-1980s, several studies were conducted into the development of an Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV), also known as a ‘space tug’.
With OneWeb looking to launch more than 600 smallsats and SpaceX to build a Starlink constellation of 42,000 satellites, there will be as much demand for space operations as there will be launch services, Skyrora said.
The idea gained little traction due to the limited number of launches at the time, but the hunger for such a vehicle has been gaining momentum lately.
This is partly due to the privatization of the space launch sector, which makes it cheaper and easier to get objects into orbit.
In 2018 Spaceflight Inc. the Sherpa OMV aboard a Falcon 9 missile, and in October 2019, an American consortium led by Northrop Grumman launched their Mission Extension Vehicle into orbit from Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft was used to move an existing satellite into new orbit, allowing it to extend its mission for another four years, reducing the number of launches needed to replace it.
Once in orbit, Skyrora’s upper stage can navigate to a wide variety of orbits and make multiple stops – and perform a number of functions along its journey.
The vehicle can put payloads into orbit – and once in space, it can perform multiple missions, including replacing redundant satellites or removing clutter
This represents a paradigm shift in Earth orbit operations, Skyrora boasted.
‘Having a last-mile orbital delivery service, which can drop numerous satellites into different orbits, move satellites from one orbit to another, or perform a variety of maintenance tasks is revolutionary for the UK / EU Space Industry.’
It would allow the UK to dispose of space debris, launch Earth surveillance satellites and even keep existing satellites in orbit without multiple launches.
“With several missions accomplished by a single rocket launch, Skyrora optimizes each launch while minimizing impact on the local environment,” they wrote.
“This will be accompanied by the use of eco-friendly fuel, Ecosene, which powers the vehicle to ensure the UK has the most environmentally friendly aerospace industry in the world.”
WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? MORE THAN 170 MILLION PIECES OF DEAD SATELLITES, USED MILLS AND PAINT FLAKES ARE ‘THREAT’ TO THE SPACE INDUSTRY
There are an estimated 170 million pieces of so-called ‘space junk’ – left behind from missions that could be the size of spent rocket stages or as small as flakes of paint – in orbit alongside approximately US $ 700 billion (£ 555 billion) of space infrastructure .
But only 22,000 are tracked, and with the fragments capable of traveling at speeds in excess of 27,000 mph, even small pieces of satellites can seriously damage or destroy.
Traditional gripping methods don’t work in space, however, because suction cups don’t work in a vacuum and the temperatures are too low for fabrics like tape and glue.
Grippers around magnets are useless because most of the debris in orbit around Earth is non-magnetic.
About 500,000 pieces of man-made debris (artist’s impression) are currently orbiting our planet, consisting of disused satellites, pieces of spacecraft and used rockets
Most of the proposed solutions, including rubble harpoons, require or cause a powerful interaction with the rubble, allowing these objects to be pushed in unintended, unpredictable directions.
Scientists point to two events that have exacerbated the problem of space junk.
The first was in February 2009, when an Iridium telecom satellite and Kosmos-2251, a Russian military satellite, accidentally collided.
The second was in January 2007, when China tested an anti-satellite weapon on an old Fengyun weather satellite.
Experts also pointed to two sites that have become worryingly cluttered.
One of these is low Earth orbit used by navigation satellites, the ISS, China’s manned missions and the Hubble telescope, among others.
The other is in geostationary orbit and is used by communications, weather and surveillance satellites that must maintain a fixed position with respect to Earth.