Northrop Grumman company made history when the two commercial satellites of a mission extended the life of a successful satellite.
Made and operated by Spacelogistics LLC, the subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, Mission Extension Vehicle 1 (MeV-1) separated from Intelsat’s IS-901 communications satellite on April 9.
MeV-1 satellite simulation (left) and IS-901 (right) split. Image: Northrop Grumman
MeV-1 and IS-901 have been paired together in a synchronous orbit (Geo) at an altitude of 36,000 km from February 25, 2020. At that time, the IS-901 satellite worth 250 million USD stopped working even without any problems after 15 years. The only reason why it has to stop working and switch to “graveyard orbit” is to run out of fuel to maintain orbit and control posture.
Instead of eliminating a good thing, Northrop Grumman has developed MeV as a means to extend the life, not only bringing the unsatisfactory satellites back to work but also can be connected to unsatisfactory satellites with a transplant mechanism.
MeV-1 successfully connected thanks to a special probe put into the main engine tap of the IS-901 satellite and locked tightly. After that, it took on the task of pushing and controlling posture, helping Mev-1 to be triggered and returned to operation. Although it sounds simple, this process requires some very complex techniques.
Not only successfully paired, MeV-1 also proves the ability to maintain the operation of IS-901 for another 5 years. Before splitting on April 9, MeV-1 pushed IS-901 to “graveyard”, where this satellite was not dangerous to other vehicles.
MeV-1 is on the way to approach another satellite to connect. While its “brothers”, MeV-2, is expected to continue pairing with Intelsat 10-02 satellite for another 4 years before leaving.
These tasks not only prove technology but also show future commercial space activities. They open a completely new market with the ability to extend the life of the satellites that have been working and are just cosmic trash.
The satellite connection may become more popular when the new satellites are designed to suit the service of the service as MEV. MeV more advanced versions will not only act as push modules but also can refuel the satellite, repair, even dismantle them to recover the reusable components without bringing all satellites back to Earth.