Abstract
Despite growing international interest in small satellites, high dedicated expendable launch vehicle costs and the lack of secondary launch opportunities continue to hinder the full exploitation of small satellite technology. In the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, other government agencies, commercial companies, and many universities use small satellites to perform space experiments, demonstrate new technology, and test operational prototype hardware. In addition, the DoD continues to study the role of small satellites in fulfilling operational mission requirements. However, the US lacks sufficient small satellite launch capacity. Furthermore, US government agencies are restricted to the use of US launch vehicles, which eliminates many affordable launch opportunities. In an effort to increase the number of space experiments that can be flown with a small, fixed budget, the DoD Space Test Program (STP) has teamed with the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/VS) to develop a low-cost solution for the small satellite launch program. Our solution, which can be implemented on both Boeing and Lockheed-Martin Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-Medium (EELV-M) boosters, is called the EELV Secondary Payload Adaptor (ESPA). ESPA will increase the number of launch opportunities for 180kg-class (or smaller) satellites at prices highly competitive with other secondary launch services worldwide.
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