FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the mission opportunities for the SMART-OLEV™?
What is the business case for SMART-OLEV’s on-orbit services?
What is a typical mission scenario for SMART-OLEV?
What type of propulsion is used for SMART-OLEV?
How does SMART-OLEV dock with the client satellite?
How did SMART-OLEV evolve from its predecessor, the ConeXpress servicing vehicle?

What are the mission applications for the SMART-OLEV™?

Orbital Satellite Services’ SMART-OLEV™ is a multi-role “space tug” that will provide satellite operators with a full range of fleet management services for their on-orbit spacecraft.

One of its primary applications will be the life extension for high value commercial telecommunications satellites – supplying the propulsion, navigation and guidance to maintain them in their proper orbital slots for up to 12 additional years. These telecom spacecraft would otherwise be boosted into a disposal orbit and decommissioned once their on-board propellant has been depleted, even though their revenue-generating communications relay payloads are still functional.

Other uses for the SMART-OLEV include satellite orbital slot transfers, “rescue” missions for satellites stranded in incorrect orbits due to spacecraft propulsion or launch vehicle failures, and satellites suffering from propulsion or crippling AOCS (attitude and orbit control) anomalies on orbit.

With its ability to dock/undock up to five times, a single SMART-OLEV can be used to service several satellites.

What is the business case for the SMART-OLEV’s services?

In the next 10 years alone, there will be more than 140 viable commercial telecommunications satellites due for decommissioning that are suitable for life extension. Based on the continual evolution of the world’s telecom satellite fleets, a significant market exist for on-orbit servicing over the long-term.

For all of these satellites, Orbital Satellite Services’ SMART-OLEV offers a potential of 12 years’ life extension for some 30% of the cost of a new satellite.

What is a typical mission scenario for the SMART-OLEV?

The phases of a typical SMART-OLEV mission are:

Launch and early orbit phase: This begins with the SMART-OLEV’s launch and injection into a standard geostationary transfer orbit. The solar array, TT&C antennas and electric thrusters will be deployed and the spacecraft commissioned.
Orbit transfer: This will take approximately 150 days, during which SMART-OLEV will continuously fire its electric thrusters to spiral out to geostationary orbit while reducing orbit inclination. During this phase, all spacecraft systems – including the docking payload – will be tested.
Rendezvous: SMART-OLEV and the client satellite will be tracked from the ground to within two kilometers of each other. Far and medium range cameras will then guide the spacecraft to within five meters of the client satellite by maneuvering SMART-OLEV via a series of “stationary points” using the reaction control subsystem. Command, tracking and real time telemetry will be provided through the dedicated operations control center, with image data being received by ground stations within the global tracking network.
Docking: The SMART-OLEV approaches a “parking position,” following a pre-defined speed profile. Distance to the client spacecraft is calculated on the ground using stereo images from the docking payload’s dedicated cameras. On command from ground controllers, the SMART-OLEV’s capture tool is then deployed on a boom for entry into the nozzle of the client satellite’s apogee kick motor. Once the capture tool is locked in place to provide a secure connection, the boom is retracted to bring the two spacecraft together for the nominal mated configuration.
On-station operations: When the docking procedure is completed, all attitude and orbital control functions for the client’s satellite are assumed by the SMART-OLEV, including control and execution of station-keeping maneuvers. Command and telemetry for SMART-OLEV will be handled by a dedicated ground station.
At the end of the agreed life extension period, the SMART-OLEV will provide the propulsion and guidance to move the client spacecraft to a disposal orbit. The SMART-OLEV is then ready for undocking, enabling it to be used again with another satellite.

What type of propulsion is used for SMART-OLEV?

One of the SMART-OLEV’s most important technical enablers is the use of Hall-effect ion propulsion for all main phases of the flight, including the post-launch transfer to geostationary orbit, as well as for North/South and East/West station-keeping once the SMART-OLEV has docked with the client satellite. Ion propulsion, whose propulsive efficiency is vastly superior to chemically-based propulsion, allows OSSL to offer its services using a one-ton spacecraft, compared to a mass approximately three times higher with classic propulsion systems.

How does the SMART-OLEV dock with the client satellite?

SMART-OLEV will use its capture tool to mechanically dock with the client satellite. When the SMART-OLEV is in position to execute the docking maneuver, its capture tool is inserted into the apogee kick motor’s nozzle on the client spacecraft. The two satellites are then locked into a stable contact with the client satellite interface ring resting on supports on the SMART-OLEV.

This docking concept has been designed to take advantage of the fact that practically all telecommunications satellites have an apogee motor and a launcher interface ring, both commonly situated on the anti-Earth face of the satellite and non active during the orbital mission. They provide common, defined docking points for SMART-OLEV. The configurations of apogee kick motors and interface rings are well known, enabling the SMART-OLEV to be used with the full range of telecommunications satellites currently in orbit, under development, or planned for the future.

In addition, the apogee kick motor is not a technically-sensitive item, eliminating any concern over technology control or transfer issues in preparing and executing a SMART-OLEV mission.

The SMART-OLEV’s capture tool concept and tele-presence software was developed by the DLR German Space Agency, and is mature technology that has been in existence for about 10 years. Orbital Satellite Services has exclusively licensed this technology from the DLR, and the docking tool is being industrialized by SMART-OLEV team member Kayser-Threde.

The docking tool system is compatible with multiple docking and undocking operations, thus maximizing the SMART-OLEV’s operational flexibility.

How did the SMART-OLEV evolve from its predecessor ConeXpress servicing vehicle?

SMART-OLEV is a follow-on to the ConeXpress (CX-OLEV), and is the next step in a multi-year process to evolve a mature “space tug” concept for in-orbit servicing business. The core technology and mission scenarios evolved for ConeXpress – including work performed in a highly successful European Space Agency and German Space Agency-funded public private partnership program – are directly applicable to SMART-OLEV.

The SMART-OLEV’s spacecraft design is based on the mission-proven SMART-1 – Europe’s first-ever Moon probe, which performed a highly successful 22-month lunar exploration mission in 2003-2005.

Orbital Satellite Services’ transition to the SMART-OLEV design resolves numerous technical and system challenges faced by the ConeXpress, and also reduces its launch mass to one metric ton. SMART-OLEV’s more conventional platform design is still compatible with a low-cost Ariane 5 launch, the main advantage offered by the ConeXpress, but unlike ConeXpress, it also enables the spacecraft to be orbited on other vehicles – allowing the program to take advantage of both existing and future launcher alternatives such as China’s Long March 2, the Indian PSLV and SpaceX's Falcon 9.