From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Fractionated spacecraft

A fractionated spacecraft is a satellite architecture where the functional capabilities of a conventional monolithic spacecraft are distributed across multiple modules which interact through wireless links. Unlike other aggregations of spacecraft, such as constellations and clusters, the modules of a fractionated spacecraft are largely heterogeneous and perform distinct functions corresponding, for instance, to the various subsystem elements of a traditional satellite.

History

The term "fractionated spacecraft" appears to have been coined by Owen Brown and Paul Eremenko in a series of 2006 papers,{{cite conference |book-title = AIAA Space 2006 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090319062446/http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMSPACE06_1393/PV2006_7506.pdf |archive-date = 2009-03-19 |book-title = 4th Responsive Space Conference |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100217000931/http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS4/Papers/RS4_1002P_Eremenko.pdf |archive-date = 2010-02-17 |book-title = 24th International Communications Satellite Systems Conference |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090319062445/http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMICSSC06_1269/PV2006_5328.pdf |archive-date = 2009-03-19 which argue that a fractionated architecture offers more flexibility and robustness than traditional satellite design during mission operations, and during the design and procurement.

The idea dates back to at least a 1984 article by P. Molette.{{cite journal Molette's, and later analyses by Rooney, concluded that the benefits of fractionated spacecraft were outweighed by their higher mass and cost. By 2006, Brown and his collaborators{{cite conference |book-title = AIAA Space 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090319062448/http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMSPACE07_1808/PV2007_6023.pdf |archive-date = 2009-03-19 claim that the option value of flexibility, the insurance value of improved robustness, and mass production effects will exceed any penalties, and make an analogy with distributed clusters of personal computers (PCs) which are overtaking supercomputers. A 2006 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology appears to have corroborated this latter view.

Development

In 2007, DARPA, the Pentagon's advanced technology organization, issued an announcement soliciting proposals for a program entitled System F6, which aims to prove "the feasibility and benefits" of a fractionated satellite architecture through a space demonstration. The program appears to emphasize wireless networking as a critical technical enabler, along with econometric modeling to assess if and when the architecture is advantageous over conventional approaches {{cite conference | book-title = Procedia Computer Science | doi-access = free

DARPA called for open-source development of the networking and communications protocols and interfaces for the fractionated spacecraft modules. This unusual step was presumably in an effort to proliferate the concept and mirror in space the development of the terrestrial Internet.

In 2008, DARPA announced that contracts for the preliminary development phase of the System F6 program were issued to teams headed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Orbital Sciences.

In December 2009 the second phase of the program was awarded to Orbital Sciences, along with IBM and JPL.

In February 2010, the European Space Agency (ESA) completed a study on fractionated satellites under the GSTP program.{{cite report|title=Fractionated Satellites Executive Summary |url=https://nebula.esa.int/sites/default/files/neb_study/1022/C22258ExS.pdf

On May 16, 2013, DARPA confirmed that they cancelled the Formation-flying Satellite Demo, which means that they closed the project.

ANDESITE is a fractionated spacecraft with 8 components, and was launched on June 13, 2020.

Miscellaneous

Fractionating a communications satellite mission appears to be subject to , "Satellite cluster comprising a plurality of modular satellites".

References

Rooney, Kevin. (August 2006). "An Exercise in Spacecraft Mission Fractionation". Boeing.
(2007). "System F6". DARPA.
"DARPA awards contracts for fractionated spacecraft program".
"DARPA awards contract for detailed design of fractionated spacecraft program".
"DARPA Cancels Formation-flying Satellite Demo".
(5 August 2018). "ANDESITE: A Student-Built Swarm from Concept to Launch and Beyond". [[Utah State University.
Krebs, Gunter. (9 May 2020). "ANDESITE". Gunter's Space Page.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

spaceflight-technology darpa-projects

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Fractionated spacecraft — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report