Cost Overruns Threaten DARPA Satellite Refueling Experiment
Envoi de ewen le 15 Mars 2004 15:30:31:
Cost Overruns Threaten DARPA Satellite Refueling Experiment
By: Jeremy Singer
Space News Staff Writer
A U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) experiment intended to demonstrate the feasibility of refueling satellites in space is significantly over budget and could be cancelled if the cost goes any higher, according to government and industry sources.
DARPA awarded a million contract for the Orbital Express demonstration to Boeing Phantom Works in 2002, but the cost of the project has since doubled, the sources said. The demonstration, which is slated to take place in September 2006, involves the construction of three small satellites, one of which was not part of the original million cost estimate for the experiment.
Plans for the experiment call for a satellite dubbed Astro to rendezvous with a second spacecraft known as NextSat. Astro’s job would be to refuel the NextSat spacecraft. DARPA recently added a third microsatellite to the equation that would monitor the experiment and provide “space situational awareness for U.S. satellites deployed in geostationary orbits,” according to budget justification materials recently submitted to Congress. Situational awareness is a military term that is used to describe techniques for keeping commanders informed of everything going on in a particular region.
DARPA began the program with the belief that autonomous satellite servicing could extend the lifetime of satellites already in orbit.
There would be several ways to do this including refueling satellites in orbit, installing new technology or replacing broken components.
Pentagon officials also want to see if an orbital maneuvering vehicle could be used to help a satellite perform unpredictable maneuvers to counter a potential threat from the ground or space.
Some of those applications also would be useful for civil and commercial satellites, according to a DARPA fact sheet.
Officials from Boeing Co. met with DARPA Director Tony Tether in early March to talk about how to proceed in light of the cost increases on the program, an industry source said. Glenn Golightly, a spokesman for Boeing Phantom Works, deferred to DARPA for comment.
In a written response to questions from Space News, DARPA officials said they are in the process of developing a new cost estimate for the program. The written response was provided by DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker.
The program’s cost has risen for several reasons, including the need to switch launch vehicles, the officials said. The experiment was originally supposed to be launched on a Taurus-class rocket, but was switched to the larger and more expensive Boeing Delta 4 in December 2002. The experiment was later moved to a Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket as a result of the Air Force’s sanctions against Boeing Co. for violating procurement rules.
The price also rose as DARPA elected to add additional ground testing and purchase more spare parts to avoid the potential for schedule slips in the case of breakage, the officials said.
DARPA’s budget justification documents list about million in spending in 2003 and 2004, and requests million for 2005. The agency spent more than million on the project prior to 2003, an industry source said. Sources said the 2006 budget request as currently planned would take the total cost to about million.
The increased cost on the program has raised concerns within DARPA about whether to proceed with the demonstration, the government and industry sources said.
DARPA asked the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) about a year ago whether they believed that the ability to service satellites was likely to figure into their plans for the foreseeable future, a government source said.
The NRO indicated that it believed that designing satellites to be serviced in space would be prohibitively expensive, the government source said.
Art Haubold, a spokesman for the NRO, said that the NRO is always interested in innovative new capabilities, but the costs involved with the Orbital Express concept outweigh the potential benefit at this time.
The Air Force expressed interest in the possibility of using a capability based on the Orbital Express demonstration to refuel satellites to enable them to dodge potential attacks without exhausting their fuel supply, the source said.
Maj. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force, said that the Air Force does not currently have any requirement for on-orbit servicing to its satellites. However, Billings noted in a written statement that the service remains “interested in its possible future viability, within risk parameters and financial constraints.”
While DARPA continues to plan on the 2006 demonstration, the project could be canceled if it faces further cost overruns, the government source said.
Orbital Express is far from the only space program in DARPA’s portfolio. After a several-year hiatus from working on space technology, the agency increased its attention to satellites and their launchers in 2001. Much of the agency’s focus in the space arena is on small satellites and launchers that can be ready on short notice.
The agency’s budget request for 2005 includes million for the Rapid On-Orbit Anomaly Surveillance and Tracking program, which is intended to demonstrate satellites that can be used to track friendly forces on the ground, as well as keep tabs on objects in space.
The satellites could be directly controlled by deployed troops, according to DARPA’s budget documents. DARPA received million for this work in 2004.
The program will look at developing satellites that could be launched on an aircraft-like launcher called the Responsive Access, Small Cargo, Affordable Launch vehicle that would briefly zoom out of the atmosphere to place satellites into orbit.
DARPA is asking for .8 million for that launch vehicle effort, which was initially budgeted at a total of million. DARPA received .3 million in 2004, and .4 million in 2003, for the effort, which began in 2001.
Other space programs that appear in the agency’s 2005 budget request include a new effort to develop tiny prototype communications satellites that could be part of constellations that would launch aboard a single rocket, according to the DARPA budget documents. DARPA is requesting .9 million for the project in 2005.
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