Spaceflight is excited about the launch of Sherpa-FX, its first Sherpa-NG (NextGen) orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), which is now tentatively scheduled to go up in January 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Earlier, the launch was scheduled to have taken place in December this year. The mission, called SXRS-3, will launch 16 payloads, 14 of which will launch on Sherpa-FX OTV, while the remaining two are integrated onto Sherpa-FX as hosted payloads.
“Sherpa will provide orbital diversification and this mission is a great opportunity to showcase the range of capabilities, including multiple deployments, hosted payloads and flexible interfaces,” Curt Blake, CEO, Spaceflight, told Geospatial World. “By building flexibility into all our offerings and expanding it to now include in-space transportation, we are able to provide our customers with a wide range of mission services to meet the industry’s most challenging issues.”
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The Sherpa vehicles are seen as a revolutionary initiative towards opening up space access while tailoring launch experiences that reduce timelines and improve overall flexibility. The vehicle is capable of executing multiple deployments, providing independent and detailed deployment telemetry, and flexible interface, all at a low cost. While the free-flyer separates from a launch vehicle prior to deploying any satellites (satellite separations are initiated by onboard avionics once clear of the launch vehicle), it is also quickly configurable and can move from vehicle to vehicle and mission to mission. It includes independent, near real-time, worldwide telemetry via GlobalStar.
“Being able to provide our customers with innovative approaches to launch ensures that our offerings continue to meet the diverse and growing needs of smallsat companies. Ultimately, our goal at Spaceflight is to be a satellite company’s first call for all launch requests,” Grant Bonin, SVP of Business Development, said.
The combined mass of the 16 payloads — 10 cubesats and six microsats – is about 385 kg, and are from 10 customers, including NASA, HawkEye360, IQPS, SSTP, Loft Orbital, Astrocast, among others. Also onboard is a demonstrator payload that will identify and track spacecraft. By demonstrating these tracking systems on orbit, Spaceflight customers will have access to flight-proven technologies that can mitigate space congestion and provide the foundation of effective and responsible space traffic management.
Spaceflight is looking at the vehicles delivering an exceptional in-space transportation service for its smallsat customers. “That makes our offerings more robust, flexible, and responsive to evolving customer needs,” adds Jeff Roberts, Senior Director of Mission Management.
Two more in pipeline
Additionally, the company is also developing two additional next-generation OTVs that will minimize the impact of extended development timelines and schedule delays while providing increased launch flexibility. Expected to be unveiled around middle of 2021, the two ESPA-class space vehicles are designed to provide more orbital diversification, including flexible manifest changes, deployment to multiple altitudes and orbital planes, and rapid launch solutions.
Sherpa-LTC scheduled to fly the second half of 2021. It features a high thrust, bi-propellant, green propulsion subsystem integrated seamlessly within the available space of the original free flyer. This new propulsion technology enables Sherpa-LTC to provide a low-cost, rapid orbital transfer for a wide variety of sizes of small satellites. It is compatible with all launch vehicles Spaceflight currently works with and enables reaching higher orbits quickly through SpaceX Starlink missions and similar flights.
The other one, the Sherpa-LTE, which is targeted to fly mid-2021, will provide a low-cost alternative to purchasing full direct-inject launch vehicles and will extend the ability of small launch vehicles that are currently under development to reach beyond low Earth orbit. It is a high specific impulse (Isp), Xenon propellant, electric propulsion OTV. It builds on the Sherpa program by incorporating Apollo Constellation Engine (ACE), a low thrust, high efficiency, radiation hardened Hall thruster propulsion system developed by Apollo Fusion, Inc. As ACE systems are able to generate over 6 km/s of delta-V, Sherpa-LTE has the capability to deliver customers to GEO, Cislunar, or Earth-escape orbits.
