AGGIESAT: AUTONOMOUS RENDEZVOUS&DOCKING TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR CURRENT AUTONOMOUS RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING (…

Public award description

AGGIESAT: AUTONOMOUS RENDEZVOUS&DOCKING TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR CURRENT AUTONOMOUS RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING (AR&D) CAPABILITY IN LOW EARTH ORBIT (LEO) IS CONSTRAINED BY SENSOR AND EFFECTOR MASS, POWER, AND ACCURACY LIMITS. TO THIS END, NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER HAS DEVELOPED A GPS RECEIVER, CALLED DRAGON (DUAL RF ASTRODYNAMIC GPS ORBITAL NAVIGATOR), SPECIFICALLY TO ADDRESS THE SENSOR CONSTRAINTS. THE PROPOSED INNOVATION INCLUDES CREATING A SMALL, LOW-COST, AND VERSATILE TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR TO VALIDATE AND INCREASE THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL OF DRAGON AND OTHER STATE-OF-THE-ART MINIATURIZED SENSORS AND EFFECTORS IN AN ON-ORBIT AR&D OPERATIONAL SCENARIO. FOR PHASE 1, A DEMONSTRATION PLATFORM WILL BE DEVELOPED THAT UTILIZES TWO PICOSATELLITES IN LEO, AND RELATIVE GPS AS THE PRIMARY SENSOR. THESE SATELLITES WILL BE LAUNCHED AS A SINGLE UNIT FROM THE SSPL (SPACE SHUTTLE PAYLOAD LAUNCHER) ON STS 127, THEN SEPARATE AND TRANSMIT DRAGON GPS DATA. THE PICOSATELLITE TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR WILL BE AT A TRL OF 7 AT THE END OF PHASE 1. FOR PHASE 2, THE DEMONSTRATION PLATFORM WILL BE FURTHER DEVELOPED TO FURTHER VALIDATE DRAGON, AND VALIDATE IMU SENSORS, A 1ST GENERATION REACTION CONTROL SYSTEM, A 1ST GENERATION GUIDANCE NAVIGATION AND CONTROL SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION LINKS, AND AN UNDOCKING MECHANISM.