Speaker
Description
Orbit Fab is developing an orbital infrastructure of space vehicles to serve as the in-orbit propellant supply chain. The RAFTI open license service valve acts as a drop-in replacement for fill and drain valves which enable ground fuelling as well as in space refuelling services to customers who embark the valve on their platforms. Customers are able to equip their platforms for refuelling with minimal impacts to their systems due to the RAFTI being a passive, light weight and small form factor interface. Orbit Fab vehicles serve customers through an active electromechanical and fluidic interface which handles the docking and refuelling via RAFTI. Currently in qualification by the US Orbit Fab team is the GRIP (Grappling Resupply Interface for Propellants) which serves the active interface needs of the upcoming US government and commercial missions for hydrazine refuelling. An active interface with complementary capability is required to serve the whole space propulsion ecosystem, especially for the higher pressure propellants used in electric propulsion. As such, the parallel development of GRASP (Grappling and Refuelling Active Solution for Propellants) is being pursued by the UK team to develop a product that is pressure agnostic, modular and compatible with RAFTI. The parallel development is also pursued to provide an attractive European product built with local capabilities, which will be unencumbered by export constraints currently associated with the GRIP interface. A concept is already established for the design of the GRASP mechanism, with further iterations expected as the development campaign matures. GRASP is expected to be needed for near term Orbit Fab propellant deliveries through European built propellant depots and shuttles. The development status of the GRASP active refuelling interface is presented, along with the overall development plan and roadmap for the implementation of GRASP into Orbit Fab missions and technological architectures. A preliminary concept of GRASP and initial pathfinder test results are also presented, where the key mechanical building blocks and kinematics of the soft and hard capture operations have been validated in a relevant environment.
