Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for November 8, 2018: CONFERS conference; and science at the Gateway. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

CONFERS Conference

The Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) held its first conference on November 8 in Washington, D.C. One of the first areas of agreement was that they need a better acronym.

CONFERS is an industry-led consortium of U.S. and international companies that are developing or plan to develop capabilities for what is broadly known as “satellite servicing.” The term is imprecise and refers to everything from attaching a new propulsion device to move a satellite from one orbital location to another or extend its lifetime, to refueling a satellite in orbit, to repairing a satellite in orbit, to assembling large spacecraft in space. CONFERS is receiving seed funding from DARPA to “research, develop, and publish non-binding, consensus-derived technical and operations standards” for on-orbit satellite servicing (OOS) and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO).

At the conference, CONFERS Executive Director Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation released the Guiding Principles for Commercial RPO and OOS that was approved by the CONFERS membership the day before. They are posted here: [https://www.satelliteconfers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CONFERS-Guiding-Principles_7Nov18.pdf].

@_CONFERS Executive Director Brian Weeden just announced at the #GSSF the release of the Guiding Principles for Commercial RPO and OOS developed by the CONFERS membership , and approved by the Formation Committee on Nov 7th. Find the Principles at https://t.co/793UeIMQ7x. pic.twitter.com/3EWuJZwTvQ — CONFERS (@_CONFERS) November 8, 2018

Several U.S. and international companies, including Northrop Grumman (through its Space Logistics LLC subsidiary) and MAXAR Technologies (through its Space Systems Loral unit), are working on satellite servicing systems. From the U.S. government side, DARPA is developing technologies for a Remote Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellite (RSGS) system for satellites in geosynchronous orbit 35,800 kilometers (22,300 miles) above the equator, while NASA is developing technologies for RESTORE-L, a system for satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

SpacePolicyOnline.com live tweeted portions of the conference. Here is a sample of what we posted. Check our Twitter feed (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more. (In the third tweet, “Reuter” is Jim Reuter, NASA Acting Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate.)

DARPA’s Fred Kennedy: DARPA’s main interest in sat servicing is to be able to upgrade GEO sats already in orbit. “We build blind, deaf satellites in the near field” bc were never worried about area around the sat. Till now. Now want to be able to see surroundings. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Kennedy: DARPA does not want to own or operate sat servicing capabilities. Want to buy services from companies that are already doing that.

And don’t want to be anchor tenant. Want to ride the commercial wave. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Reuter is talking about the many uses NASA can make of sat servicing capabilities and highlights the ability to build large spacecraft, like telescopes, that would not be limited by having to fit within a payload fairing as JWST does. [“Servicing” can broadly mean construction] — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Reuter: we looked at whether to combine DARPA’s RSGS and our RESTORE-L programs but concluded they are different enough to keep separate, but coordinated. [DARPA is focused on GEO; NASA on LEO] — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Bryan Benedict, SES: market for GEO commsats changing rapidly. “Dots” on charts showing where future sats were planned may never be filled.

Considering refueling existing sats where there is no biz case to build a replacement bc not enuf customers. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Benedict: I think the government would prefer to develop this capability itself for its own use, but others might view it as a weapon so instead they want to do it thru commercial sector and be just one customer. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Intelsat’s Lee: satellite servicing is one more tool in my tool box as a satellite operator. Have 50+ sats in orbit, each has own needs. Mission extension may be right for some, not others. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Jim Armor, Space Logistics LLC

(part of Northrop Grumman) talking about their MEV. 1st launch next spring on Proton co-manifested with sat we built. Needed 2 licenses: FCC for orbital slot and spectrum and NOAA for remote sensing bc our cameras see Earth in the background. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Kevin O’Connell, DOC Office of Space Commerce: I’m giving a talk next month on how to get to trillion dollar space industry.

This group will be a key enabler of that. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

Science at the Gateway

At the same time as the CONFERS conference, the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was meeting in Irvine, CA to discuss opportunities for science that will be available when NASA builds its new Gateway in lunar orbit. The Gateway, previously called the Deep Space Gateway and the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, is a small space station NASA plans to put into a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon to support lunar surface operations and perhaps serve as a transfer point for human spacecraft going to Mars. It is small compared to the International Space Station (ISS) and will not be permanently occupied like ISS.

NASA is seeking input from the science community as to how it could utilize the Gateway. SSB will hold a workshop on that topic in the spring. This meeting was a prelude to get ideas on where to focus the discussion. One area of overlap between CONFERS and this discussion is the possibility of using the Gateway as a base for in-space construction of very large space telescopes. Speakers at the SSB meeting were divided on whether the Gateway would be useful for that. SpacePolicyOnline.com live tweeted portions of that meeting, too. Here is a sample. Check our Twitter feed (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more. (“Crusan” is Jason Crusan, head of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA HQ; Jonathan Lunine is Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell University.)

Crusan says they relook at the possible configuration of the Gateway every 6 months. This is the most recent one. pic.twitter.com/K54lyrdqsx — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

At SSB, Jonathan Lunine’s one, succinct chart. pic.twitter.com/Jxu6Fok84D — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

SSB Chair Fiona Harrison asks panel what their “gut instinct” is on the size threshold for when a telescope would *have* to be assembled in space.

Some panelists say 20 m, one says 15 m. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

JPL’s Dave Redding presenting results of iSAT study on assembling large telescope in orbit. pic.twitter.com/4xkQJ1rRoO — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) November 8, 2018

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