Mapping the Uncharted Water of using Commercial GEO Platforms for Scientific Payloads
- Paper number
IAC-07-D1.I.02
- Author
Mr. David Zusiman, Spacecom, Israel
- Coauthor
Mr. Tal Inbar, Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, Israel
- Coauthor
Mr. Meidad Pariente, I.A.I., Israel
- Year
2007
- Abstract
This article will encompass a detailed proposal of the potential benefits and challenges of using accessible commercial GEO platforms, mainly used for communications missions, to allow a secondary scientific payload or any other payload on this platform integrated in a faster program, affordable launch, lower cost and easier in-orbit operations. Today, almost all the scientific space programs include a full development of bus, payload, mission, command and receiving ground station and also a launch contract. This necessitates a long costly typical space programs with the risks, problems and worries like any other large space mission. Moreover, most of the missions are forced to use the LEO orbit and specifically the polar orbits from many reasons. Those specific orbits create a very restricted scientific missions in terms of no. of hours of operation per day, visibility of objects of interest for the mission etc. The GEO orbit, although its restrictions allow an almost full operation time and almost full visibility. The main platform supports the secondary payload with its already stable platform, a power source, a CCTS support and a repetitious visibility of objects of interest for the scientific mission. About 25 commercial communications satellites are launched to GEO orbit each year. Those platforms are fairly large and spacious, abundant with power margin, enjoys a stable platform, keep a very accurate location in their dedicated slot and are very reliable from years of accumulated space heritage and have a set of launch vehicles to choose from to carry them to orbit. These characteristics fit very much the needs of many potential scientific payloads therefore this article will expose the various options for these secondary payloads and will also handle the GEO platform issue together with the cost and programmatic issues to make this all proposal very clear to the reader. The article will also propose a Generic Interface Panel (GIP) that will fit to most of the common Geo platform exists today. This panel will allow fast integration and common interface for various payloads. The article will use as an example the TAUVEX program – a UV secondary payload aboard the GSAT 4 Indian communications satellite. To sum it up, to the author and other experts in this field, this idea looks like a very promising one but till today sadly floated far within those uncharted water that the author through this article hope to uncover and map in details.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-D1.I.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.