In-Orbit Services to Satellites Operators

Project Information

Endurance

Grant agreement ID: 190119713

DOI

10.3030/190119713

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2023

Start date 1 April 2023

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 3 220 040,00

EU contribution

€ 2 254 028,00

Coordinated by

INFINITE ORBITS
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Endurance (In-Orbit Services to Satellites Operators)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The GEO orbit is occupied by 1197 satellites out of which 565 are currently operational. At the end of the current average lifespan of 15 years per satellite, the practice is to retire the expired satellites to the graveyard orbit.
Until now there are no feasible alternatives to refuel or extend the lifespan of the satellites. GEO satellite operators are therefore forced to decommission their >200M€ functioning assets. This implies a high CAPEX expenditure every 15 years, +5 years of design beforehand, and is a major financial constraint for GEO satellites operators. Aside from contributing to space debris which threatens future space activities, it requires the operator to forecast its market 15 years ahead.
The Objective of the project is offer a life extension service.
Infinite Orbits’ (IO) solution for life extension is to employ a life extension vehicle - ‘Servicer’. It is based on IO patented technology ‘Autonomous vision based navigation for non-cooperative targets’. It enables to autonomously navigate to the target satellite, mechanically dock and provide 5 more years of life to the host GEO satellite by taking over the GEO sat's Attitude and Orbital Control Systems (AOCS). After 5 more years, the servicer transfers the GEO satellite to the graveyard orbit at the end of life in compliance with space debris mitigation and national regulation.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Endurance mission design has gone through a Phase A in 2022. This critical gate has been reviewed by a panel of institutional members, customers and experts. The following phase has enabled the maturity of a preliminary design of the servicer spacecraft as well as the selection of critical technologies for the mission. As part of the initial EIC Grant activities, Infinite Orbits is narrowing the design activities toward a final design phase. Main achievements have been in the field of Docking system studies & technoloy selection, rendez-vous & navigation software/hardware design, plateform AOCS design.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The design philosophy for Endurance has been targeted at making life extension of GEO satellites affordable and allowing customers (telecom operators) to sign up for such a service as
late as two years from the predicted date of EoL of a Client satellite. Hence cost and schedule have been identified as the most important design drivers in the value proposition for a customer in addition to reliability.

ENDURANCE Project Cover