Exploration of an Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) to Enhance National Security Space (NSS) Capabilities

Abstract

The aerospace industry has long recognized that the United States could do a better job utilizing unused margin on launch vehicles. In recent years, new ideas for taking advantage of the margin have arisen and have included sending smaller, nano or cubesat devices tucked into various locations on the vehicle, or using a dedicated interface device such as the Evolved Expendable Vehicle Secondary Payload Adaptor (ESPA) for larger components. This paper will examine a natural extension of the ESPA idea to include the additional advantages of having an ESPA with its own maneuvering capability. We explore the range of mission life and capabilities of the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) ESPA, from short-lived, chemical propulsion to longlife, highly maneuverable spacecraft buses. A wide range of traditional and innovative NSS space missions that can be enabled by such capabilities will be explored and cover mission classes including rapid response, mission augmentation and long-life buses. Insights gained from this exploration will help to steer requirements for OMS system development and will guide the development of future National Security Space (NSS) mission capabilities. By leveraging the combined ESPA, OMS, and excess launch capacity, NSS will be able to better take advantage of developmental opportunities and speed new capabilities into the NSS portfolio.