70 on what those results say about our reliability, many of our clients could use just one Astrix NS instead of the two you would require for cold redundancy. “In general, GEO satellites will use our more robust gyros and in higher numbers than LEO and launcher craft. That comes from radiation being most severe at GEO levels, and LEO satellites only need to last 7-8 years, as well as launchers being used just once unless they can be landed, compared with 8-15 years for GEO systems.” Exail adds that the new Astrix NS has been qualified for use in 15-year GEO missions and 8-year LEO missions. “We’re also developing our accelerometers and gyros together as IMUs for interplanetary missions through the Eurisa project, such as collecting mineral samples from the Moon or Mars and then bringing them back to Earth,” de Toldi notes. Orbital industry As well as providing a high vantage point for observing and surveying different facets of the Earth’s atmosphere and topography, the zero-gravity conditions in orbit also lend themselves to highly efficient production facilities. The absence of dust and other contaminants in space effectively makes for a natural ‘clean room’, and various processes involved with the production of different goods can be accelerated without the burden of gravity and weight. To that end, some organisations are pursuing a path towards full-scale orbital construction facilities. One of these is Space Cargo Unlimited, which has signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to develop the REV1, a reusable uncrewed spacecraft intended for production applications in orbit. The company has a few key areas of interest. One is pharmaceuticals, as the company anticipates space microgravity will aid in protein crystallisation, a process vital to discovering new medicines but difficult to achieve on Earth. Similarly, it expects additive printing of organ tissue and even complete organs to be optimised in microgravity, as will micro-encapsulation. This is a process in which compounds including biological material can be sealed inside another material, potentially of 1 µm to several 100 µm thickness, to protect them against environmental conditions, both of which could make huge differences to medical supplies to the Earth. Lastly, it proposes that developing new forms of plant life adapted to microgravity could lead to hardier species of crops, and hence higher yields on Earth. The company therefore aims to study how this could be achieved and how such orbital agricultural research could be industrialised. Although the REV1 is intended to be around 4.5 m long, it is also being designed to carry up to 1000 kg of payloads, including additive printers, bioreactors and passive containers. This capability is enabled through the absence of any life support or habitation systems needed on crewed spacecraft. Some pressurisation will still be maintained inside the REV1 though, particularly for biological experiments. Manufacturing processes and scientific experiments would take place after the REV1 docks with an autonomous orbiter station in LEO; the station is being designed by Thales Alenia Space. Solar panels and electric rocket engines will enable the orbiter to stay aloft for about 10 years, or about 20 REV1 missions. Construction is another industry that stands to gain from moving operations into orbit. Given the lack of gravity, workers or robots could use a propellant pack or climbing frame to travel in any direction around an orbital shipyard for example, assembling chassis and then climbing around them as needed to install subsystems or hull parts in whatever orientation desired by the designers. With that in mind, Orbital Composites continues to work on its technologies for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, and has been granted a contract for exploring ways towards these by SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the US Space Force and a subgroup of AFWERX, part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Part of the project is to examine how uncrewed orbital vehicles could remediate space debris by locating and approaching them, then assessing how October/November 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Orbital Composites has been granted a contract for exploring in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing capabilities (Courtesy of Orbital Composites)
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