In recent years, the satellite industry has witnessed a paradigm shift with the demand of smallsats. In Low Earth Orbit, of course, but also, and more surprisingly, in geostationary orbit!
For instance, Infinite Orbits’ Orbit Guard #1 spacecraft was the world's first commercial 16U smallsat in GEO, which was launched onboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy launcher as a ride-share payload.
However, despite the innovative and competitive services offered by small geostationary satellites, smallsats face significant logistical challenges that constrain direct access to GEO. Because many of them can not orbit raise on their own, the rarefaction of direct GEO launches accessible to European players is severely affecting this emerging market. This bottleneck is a strong hurdle in the roadmap of emerging services and technologies.
Orbit Transfer Vehicles may be part of the solution! Derived from the R&D development performed for our Life Extension Vehicle Endurance and in partnership with key industry players, Infinite Orbits designed a project to develop a Green Reusable Kickstage Vehicle to perform GTO to GEO transfer for small satellites – GEORyder, which was selected by the European Commission under the HORIZON-CL4-2023-SPACE-01-22 call for ‘STRATEGIC AUTONOMY IN DEVELOPING, DEPLOYING AND USING GLOBAL SPACE-BASED INFRASTRUCTURES, SERVICES, APPLICATIONS, AND DATA 2023’
WHAT IS GEORYDER!
GEORyder is a green reusable kickstage vehicle to perform multiple GTO to GEO orbit transfer of smallsats. Reusable kickstages like GEORyder will be able to provide reliable and affordable means of GEO access for smallsats operators. By complementing and integrating with the current launch capacity by performing sustainable extra-mile logistics, GEORyder is capable of offering the industry a more comprehensive and cost-effective in-space logistics solution — enabling the growth of the space industry as a whole.
The key objectives of GEORyder project are as follows:
Enabling GTO to GEO transfer in less than 2 weeks compared to the current 3 months of orbit raising by smallsats incurring in extra costs, fuel expenses and radiations in the Van Allen Belts.
A modular design approach in platform architecture — Modular Avionics design and Agnostic Hardware architecture.
To develop & integrate REACH compliant and refuellable propulsion system with a qualified refueling interface capable of zero gravity fluid transfer.
Capable of Vision-based Autonomous Navigation and Rendezvous with a client, to enable recurring missions with a new client or refueling the vehicle for multiple logistics cycles.
Designed to be refueled, GEORyder is a vehicle optimized to enable the performance of multiple missions by a single vehicle.
INNOVATION FROM KEY PARTNERSHIPS
The GEORyder project is an ambitious mission supported by a strong team of major commercial entities, leading specific significant domains within the project.
Infinite Orbits is the project coordinator and leads the Mission design and Systems engineering of the spacecraft
Berlin Space Technologies heads the Kickstage design and Industrialization
Deimos will perform the AOCS design, integration, verification, and qualification
Politecnico di Milano is leading the Guidance, Navigation, and Control System for Navigation & Proximity operations
Dawn Aerospace will lead in developing, assembly and testing the green bipropellant thruster for the vehicle
Skylabs will drive the High Power Computing OBC subsystem design and development activities
Space Applications Services will be in charge of the development and testing of the refueling interface.
Arianespace will contribute in developing the Go-to-Market strategy of the project.
PROJECT IMPACT
The project contributes to the EU Green Deal for a sustainable, carbon-neutral economy by 2050 objective through the reduction of the environmental impact of space transportation by its re-usability and affordability. The services provided will allow operators to limit having extra propellants onboard, thereby reducing satellite launch mass and, in tandem, minimizing industrial environmental footprint. The project also complies with REACH regulations by using a Green propulsion system.
The most notable development of GEORyder is the technologies developed towards refueling, paving the way to a larger sustainable ecosystem of “Hub-and-Spoke” re-usable space transportation means. New space entrants don’t have to invest a huge CAPEX for direct GEO launches and go through significant delays in deployment. The proposed logistics solution offers a significant reduction in costs for GEO operators in eliminating the need for self orbit raising from GTO to GEO- thereby promoting the NewSpace ecosystem.
This system is crucial for Infinite Orbits as well, to launch the upcoming Orbit Guard fleet to be deployed directly in GEO without having to increase the form factor to accommodate self orbit raising or to go through multi-year delays in securing a launch. With a target of launching at least 10 Orbit Guards before 2030 to cover the entire GEO arc, GEORyder will be the ideal ally for a fast, efficient and cost-effective launch.
This project is a testament to the resilience and ingenuity of the European space sector, responding proactively to the limitations imposed by external variables. GEORyder aims to shape the trajectory of the Space Transportation domain and contribute towards the goal of a circular space economy.
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