NOVEMBER 2024AEROSPACEDEFENSEREVIEW.COM8In My OpinionBy Bill Doyle, Senior Director of Satellite Program Management, Loft OrbitalFor the past four decades, potential space users have been trying to simplify getting their missions to space through shorter schedules and reduced costs. In the late 1990s, the issue became twofold: first, having reliable, low-cost access to space, And second, hosting missions on satellites that can be produced quickly and inexpensively while being flexible enough to support a variety of missions. It has taken four waves of progress to let space users realize what was once called `responsive space.'Wave One ­ Simplifying Satellite InterfacesIn the early 2000s, the US Department of Defense (DoD) embarked on the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) concept, which was aimed at providing quick-response tactical space-based capabilities. This effort, which included civil and national defense organizations, originally focused on connectivity: standardized interfaces and flexible assembly. It evolved into a modular open system architecture (MOSA) ­ again focusing on interfaces so that capabilities (through the reuse of some modules and the development of new ones) could be flexibly combined. Unfortunately, the US national security community was not successful in expanding this interface-based concept into `responsive' satellite production ­ but they were successful in developing the concepts and tools that enable a way to abstract payloads (which need to be flexible) from the rest of the satellite.Wave Two ­ Simplifying Satellite ManufacturingThe commercial space industry took a different approach to satellite responsiveness, which has been more successful but less flexible. Instead of focusing on a modular architecture that would allow a wide variety of satellite missions, companies such as OneWeb and SpaceX have focused on the mass production of a single type of satellite (communications in both cases). This drove down costs and reduced the manufacturing time for a satellite but didn't address a customer's need to incorporate new capabilities. However, it provided an opportunity for low-cost, quick-to-produce satellite buses. Wave Three ­ Simplifying Satellite LaunchAbstracting the payload from a standard commodity bus is only half the solution. Luckily, at the same time, the commercial space industry was solving the cost and schedule impacts of launch. Until recently, launches were infrequent due to the REALIZING RESPONSIVESPACE
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