British firm Skyrora is one step closer to launching a spacecraft that can tow satellites into different orbits, replace old satellites and even clean up space debris.
The upper phase of the Skyrora XL rocket successfully completed an important static fire test in the car development complex in Fife, Scotland, just before Christmas.
This upper stage of the rocket is also a ‘mission-ready Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV)’ that can perform a number of space missions after its payload has been delivered.
Skyrora in Edinburgh hopes to be able to launch the OTV by the end of next year, or early 2023, along with small satellites that can carry it inside, on top of the XL rocket from one of the Scottish spacecraft.
They say it is a major step for the UK space sector as it will enable them to provide space services as well as launch satellites from British soil.
The upper phase of the Skyrora XL rocket successfully completed an important static fire test in the car development complex in Scotland Fife, just before Christmas
On December 23, the Skyrora Test and Flight Operations Team conducted one of their most important test campaigns to date, a complete static fire test at the top stage.
The engine is fired for three shots for 450 seconds and involves a fully integrated setup of the engine, feed systems, aviation and flight software.
The vehicle can deliver cargo loads in orbit – and once in space it can perform several missions, including replacing excess satellites or removing debris.
Skodora CEO Volodymyr Levykin said; “Our goal was to always be ready for a mission once all the prescriptions and permissions were in place, and this development not only brings us closer to that point, but also brings us beyond mere readiness to begin.
“We were deliberately silent on this aspect of our Skyrora XL launch vehicle as we had technical challenges to achieve it up to this point, and we wanted to ensure that all tests had a satisfactory outcome, as now.”
The engine is fired for three shots for 450 seconds and involves a fully integrated setup of the engine, feed systems, aviation and flight software.
He said in the current climate there was a shortage of good news, 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 nation that continues to innovate and take the lead in some high ambitions,” Levykin said.
With OneWeb wanting to launch more than 600 smallsats and SpaceX wanting to build a Starlink constellation of 42,000 satellites, Skyrora will apparently have just as much demand for space operations as for launch services.
“The third stage of Skyrora OTV will meet the demand while also exporting new satellite aircraft,” the firm said.
To date, the company has conducted a rigorous series of engine tests, but this last exercise involved a fully integrated setup.
This included the engine, the flyweight structure and feed systems, aircraft and the complete flight computer software that will be used during the first flight of Skyrora XL – at some point next year or early in 2023.
The test was of the flight software and vehicle structure, as the vehicle performed a complete set of engine burns and maneuvers that simulated the flight from the upper stage in an orbit above the earth.
Passing this test puts Skyrora one step closer to completing their XL vehicle.
The OTV has the ability to reload its engine multiple times so that it can perform multiple tasks during a single trip, making it very configurable.
“The Skyrora Upper Phase 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, chief engineer. , Dr. Jack James Marlow.
In the mid-1980s, several studies were done on the development of an Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) – sometimes called a ‘space trek’.
With OneWeb wanting to launch more than 600 smallsats and SpaceX wanting to build a Starlink constellation of 42,000 satellites, Skyrora will apparently have just as much demand for space operations as for launch services.
The idea gained little traction due to the limited number of launches at the time, but the appetite for such a vehicle has become strong in recent times.
This is partly due to the privatization of the spatial launch sector, which makes it cheaper and easier to place objects in orbit.
In 2018, Spaceflight Inc. launched the Sherpa OMV aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, and in October 2019, a US consortium led by Northrop Grumman launched their “Mission Extension Vehicle” into a track of Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft was used to reposition an existing satellite in a new orbit, making it possible to extend its mission length by another four years, reducing the number of launches needed to replace it.
The Skyrora top stage, once in orbit, can navigate to a wide variety of orbits and stop several times – performing a number of functions during its journey.
The vehicle can deliver cargo loads in orbit – and once in space it can perform various missions, including replacing excess satellites or removing debris
Skyrora boasts a paradigm shift in orbit operations.
‘Having a last-mile orbit delivery service, which can deliver numerous satellites in different orbits, move satellites from one orbit to another or perform a variety of maintenance tasks, is revolutionary for the UK / EU space industry.’
This will give the UK the ability to remove space debris, launch Earth monitoring satellites and even maintain existing satellites in orbit without multiple launches.
“Since multiple missions have been accomplished with one missile launch, Skyrora optimizes each launch while minimizing the impact on the local environment,” they write.
“This is accompanied by the use of environmentally friendly fuel, Ecosene, which powers the vehicle to ensure that the UK has the most environmentally friendly space industry in the world.”
WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? MORE THAN 170 MILLION PIECES OF DEAD SATELLITES, ROCKETS AND LEVELS OF PAINT ARE ‘THREAT’ TO SPACE OPERATIONS
It is estimated that 170 million pieces of so-called ‘space junk’ – left behind on missions as large as the used rocket stages or as small as paint flakes – are in orbit along about 700 billion dollars (£ 555 billion) in space infrastructure. .
But only 22,000 are detected, and with the fragments moving at speeds of more than 27,000 km / h, even small pieces of satellite can be severely damaged or destroyed.
However, traditional gripping methods do not work in space, as suction cups do not function in a vacuum and the temperature is too cold for substances such as tape and glue.
Magnet-based grippers are useless because most debris in the orbit around the earth is not magnetic.
About 500,000 pieces of man-made waste (artist’s impression) are currently orbiting our planet, consisting of unused satellites, pieces of spacecraft and used rockets
Most solutions proposed, including debris harpoons, require or cause powerful interaction with the debris, which can push the objects in unintentional, unpredictable directions.
Scientists point to two events that have exacerbated the problem of space debris.
The first was in February 2009, when an Iridium telecommunications 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 have also pointed to two websites that have become alarmingly cluttered.
One is a low-Earth orbit used by satnav satellites, the ISS, China’s manned missions, and the Hubble Telescope, among others.
The other one is in a geostationary orbit and is used by satellites for communication, weather and observation that must maintain a fixed position with respect to the earth.