Orbital DroneSat Carrier for Space-Based Tactically Responsive Missions

Due to the increasingly congested and contested nature of on-orbit operations, the US Space Force needs the ability to respond to threats and emergencies on-orbit within less than 24 hours of call-up. Ground-based launch solutions to this problem suffer from uncertainties such as weather, range and pad availability, range violations, and azimuth constraints. They also struggle with the throughput needed to respond to multiple simultaneous threats. Orbital DroneSat carriers remove this uncertainty, providing warfighters with the ability to reliably deliver ESPA-class rapid response DroneSats to anywhere within any LEO, MEO, or GEO orbit in less than 12 hours of call-up. Orbital DroneSat Carriers are free flying platforms, derived from Gravitics pressurized and unpressurized commercial space station modules. These carriers are designed to serve as forward basing facilities to house and protect, on-orbit, multiple rapid response spacecraft (ôDroneSatsö) pre-attached to high-delta-V Delivery Stages. Key deliverables from the Phase II effort include: Trade study optimizing the number of drones per carrier, scaling of DroneSat delivery stages, extended mission features, and optimal orbital distribution of Orbital DroneSat Carriers. PDR-level design of the 4 meter unpressurized module design that is the non-defense commercial product that Orbital DroneSat Carriers are derived from. A sub-scale prototype demonstration of the unpressurized module hatch mechanism. System design of the DroneSat Carrier mission-specific hardware, including spaceborne service equipment for the DroneSats and Delivery Stages, modular payload storage and robotics, and propellant storage/handling hardware for the Delivery Stages. Completing these tasks enables Gravitics to mature Orbital DroneSat Carrier and unpressurized module hardware to flight-ready status under a STRATFI follow-on.