SpaceDev Microsat to
Travel to Moon
(12 July 2005) SpaceDev has been
awarded a contract by Andrews Space of Seattle to design a small spacecraft
that will be the first ever to travel to the vicinity of the Moon through a
gravity tunnel, a route which requires significantly less fuel than
conventional trajectories.
The overall program is to
design, develop, launch, and operate a small low-cost spacecraft, called
SmallTug, on a mission to the Lunar L1 point to demonstrate key technologies
and advanced orbital mechanics in support of NASA's human and robotic
exploration of the Moon and Mars.
"This project is important to us
because it is SpaceDev's first opportunity to design a deep space vehicle, and
because the overall cost of the complete mission is less than US$ 20 million,"
said SpaceDev founding chairman and CEO, Jim Benson. "I founded SpaceDev in
1997 to perform deep space science missions for US$ 25 million or less, and
this program with Andrews Space is a great opportunity to fulfil that dream. We
are looking forward to working with the great team at Andrews Space on this
revolutionary, low cost, deep space mission."
The new SpaceDev
contract is approximately US$ 1.25M for the first phase of a NASA Human and
Robotic Technology Program with Andrews Space as the prime contractor, and
SpaceDev as the primary subcontractor. The NASA contract will be managed by the
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
During
the first twelve-months of the contract, SpaceDev will work with Andrews Space
to produce a preliminary design of a highly modular spacecraft bus and a plan
for integrating new electric propulsion and new high performance solar power
systems. SmallTug will carry sensors to take measurements of the radiation
environment between the Earth and the Moon.
For the second phase of
the contract, if awarded by NASA and Andrews, SpaceDev will be responsible for
building, integrating and preparing SmallTug for a 2008 launch. The 100 kg
spacecraft will be launched into Earth orbit as a secondary payload. From
there, the microsatellite will perform a one-year mission resulting in a halo
orbit around the Lunar Lagrange L1 point, which is located at about 85 percent
of the distance from Earth to the Moon.
"The development of this tiny,
high performance, low-cost spacecraft will further demonstrate SpaceDev's
modular and standardised hardware and software technologies, but this time in a
deep space environment," said SpaceDev program manager Keith Beals. "The
successful combination of SpaceDev's deep space bus with advanced
electro-propulsion and deep space navigation / communication systems will
expand SpaceDev's capabilities."
(source: SpaceDev)