Economics of Repurposing In Situ Retired Spacecraft Components

Today many vehicle systems that operate in media on the Earth, be they air, ground or water, utilize the concept of repurposing. Some well-known examples include B-52 variants that utilize airframes built in the 1960's and submarine variants that utilize structures and hulls built in the 1970's. Almost every major vehicle in a consumer’s daily life uses repurposing through value added reseller equipment and constant maintenance; the family car, boat or truck is built on this concept. Entire companies of 2nd and 3rd tier industries are built not just on repurposing components and hardware, but on the skill set to be able to effect the repurposing. All major systems in the world use this construct, with the single exception of satellites. Satellites costing anywhere from $1M to $1B are designed with a known lack of repurposing, for planned disposal at a projected end of life. The fleet of retired spacecraft in the graveyard orbit above GEO (geosynchronous earth orbit) includes hundreds of spacecraft with a wide variety of technologies and components. Given launch costs to GEO in the range of $40,000-$60,000 per kilogram, repurposing useful elements from these inactive spacecraft could present an economic opportunity in the current cost-constrained environment. GEO spacecraft generally have a design life consistent with life limited components and the spacecraft’s propellant load. While many components on retired spacecraft have reached the end of their useful life, this is not the case for all components. This paper examines the economic challenges of repurposing these still useful spacecraft elements to obtain new or repurposed utility.