Launching Micro-Satellites Using a Commercial GEO Satellite RideShare Concept

RideShare is the ability to launch a secondary payload from a commercially owned and operated communications platform. This arrangement eliminates the secondary payload’s launch vehicle cost while benefiting from the excess resources of the host spacecraft, thereby providing lowcost, effective access to space for a variety of small payloads. RideShare, used in the context of this paper, is also referred to as the secondary payload mission (i.e., micro-satellite) that is to be integrated into the primary bus structure of a commercial GEO communications spacecraft and deployed during the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) ascent phase or directly from the Geostationary belt. This paper provides a post separation trajectory analysis of a micro-satellite integrated onto an Orbital Sciences GEO Star 2 satellite nadir deck using the low-cost, flight proven, off-the-shelf Motorized LightBand (MLB) separation system. Induced force and torque during the separation process are supplied by the MLB manufacturer using mass properties of both micro satellite and GEO satellite. The separation and deployment of the micro-satellite away from the GEO Star 2 spacecraft deck is triggered and automated using the MLB mechanism. A threefold analysis is presented herein including: (1) safe and smooth separation in the context of no potential debris or spacecraft collision; (2) safe and acceptable insertion of the micro-satellite into the desired GEO orbit post-separation; (3) negligible performance impact to the GEO satellite’s Orbital Maneuver Life and its GTO trajectory insertion during the deployment of the GEO micro-satellite. The analysis conducted in this paper is supported by Orbital’s GEO Advanced Programs with their low-cost and fast access to space business pursuit using the RideShare concept.