20–24 Sept 2021
Europe/Amsterdam timezone

PERIOD – PERASPERA In-Orbit Demonstrator for validating core on-orbit manufacturing, assembly and servicing operations

21 Sept 2021, 14:00
15m
Debris removal and servicing Debris removal and servicing

Speaker

Stéphane Estable (Airbus)

Description

The PERIOD Consortium, -bringing together the competencies of Airbus Defence and Space, DFKI, EASN-TIS, GMV, GMV-SKY, ISISPACE, SENER Aeroespacial and Space Application Services, is proposing a very ambitious demonstration scenario for an orbital Factory concept. A satellite will be manufactured, assembled in the Factory and injected in LEO for being operated. The manufacturing includes the fabrication of an antenna, the assembly of the satellite components and its reconfiguration and inspection in the Factory. The demonstrator will be upgraded to extend the level of capability validation from assembly and manufacturing of structures to refueling experiments. The objectives of the PERIOD project (PERASPERA In-Orbit Demonstration) are therefore focusing on the main levers to generate the core in-orbit Services, Manufacturing and Assembly (ISMA) capabilities. In PERIOD which is currently running a phase A/B1 the in-orbit demonstration is planned to be implemented as early as 2026 and the space robotics technologies are being matured to TRL5. The SRC building blocks ESROCOS, ERGO and InFuse are being further developed after an alignment of their perimeter to the demonstration objectives. The Standard Interconnects (SI), at TRL5 at project start, will be tested in a benchmark for evaluating their performance. In addition, these SRC building blocks will be integrated in a breadboard at Airbus for supporting the system definition work. The new ISMA capabilities will generate on-orbit services improving the orbital infrastructure, creating in turn a very promising business opportunity with sizeable market. The PERIOD demonstration will cover the short and mid-to-long term ISMA business cases and will support the transition to in-space services, assembly and manufacturing paradigm. The PERIOD project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programs under grant agreement No 101004151.

Primary authors

Stéphane Estable (Airbus) Mrs Annelies Ampe (ISISpace) Mr Apostolos Chamos (EASN-TIS) Mrs Gwenaelle Aridon (Airbus Defence and Space SAS) Daniel Silveira (GMV) Mr Francisco Colmenero (GMV Aerospace and Defence SA) ISABEL SOTO Mr Jérémi Gancet (Space Applications Services NV) Mark Shilton (Airbus DS Ltd) Marko Jankovic (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH) and University of Bremen)

Presentation materials