Speaker
Description
In the last years GMV, under ESA contracts and in collaboration with AVS, has been and is still, designing and developing multiple technologies for ADR. Among those MICE, Mechanical Interface for end-of-life CapturE, currently qualified and already on orbit carried by the AVS’s LUR-1 S/C, and CAT, Return Capture Payload Bay, whose bread board has been just tested and validated within the platform-art© robotic test facility at GMV’s premises, in Madrid.
In parallel to those, and others, key technological developments, and in line with the ESA strategy for zero-debris, GMV has been assessing, again under an ESA’s contract, the possibility to perform an IOD mission, CAT-IOD.
Objective of CAT-IOD is to demonstrate the active removal with CAT of a space debris carrying on-board MICE and a set of navigation aids devices. All those currently planned for the next generation of ESA/EU Copernicus satellites.
The CAT-IOD Pre-phase A study aimed to perform a conceptual design of a mission towards the ADR of a small and prepared target satellite, the AVS LUR-1 into the specific. The study evaluated the technical feasibility, cost, and risks of the mission, as well as the scalability and representativeness of the proposed mission concept and key technologies towards larger scale missions like the mentioned new generation of COPERNICUS.
CAT-IOD Pre-phase A preliminary sized a servicer satellite, named DOG, to fulfil ADR mission objectives. DOG is targeting flying late 2027 / beginning 2028.
It intends to prove both cooperative and non-cooperative scenarios for a prepared target. Key element of the demonstration being the mentioned mechanical devices, the needed GNC and the corresponding operations.
CAT-IOD Pre-phase A also served the purpose to identify potential needs on the client side and derive feasible inputs that could be implemented at the target side and/or ground segments for an efficient service.
The Pre-Phase A showed the feasibility of the mission within the intended target price, 50M€ industrial.
