SSTL antennas destined for ISS resupply vehicle
Tuesday, July 13. 2010
Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) has ordered nine GPS patch antennas from SSTL for the Cygnus™ advanced manoeuvring spacecraft – for those who don’t recognise the name, this is one of the forthcoming unmanned resupply spacecraft for the International Space Station (ISS)!
Orbital is the prime contractor for this spacecraft – which is one of the first truly commercial missions to be conducted for NASA.
GPS Patch Antenna
The Cygnus spacecraft is being developed by Orbital to demonstrate cargo delivery services under a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement. In addition to the COTS development and demonstration program, Orbital will utilise the Cygnus to perform ISS resupply flights under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) contract. This NASA contract authorises eight missions between 2011 and 2015 carrying approximately 20,000 kg of cargo to the ISS, as well as disposal of ISS waste.
The coming together of the commercial space entrepreneurs and the world’s most established space agency is not the only story here. As you’d expect, flying cargo to the ISS has its challenges, not least of which is manoeuvring and docking with the space station and Cygnus in fact comprises a common service module and a pressurised cargo module.
See here is a Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM) berthed on the International Space Station. The Cygnus module will use a similar berthing mechanism. Courtesy NASA
Artist's image of the Cygnus spacecraft approaching the International Space Station. (Image courtesy of OrbitalSciences Corporation)
For more information, visit the Cygnus Factsheet
SSTL manufactures the majority of its sub-systems used in its own and third party missions, they are available to order and have been used extensively on a range of small and larger third party missions. For more details, visit www.sstl.co.uk/divisions/systems-and-services/subsystems
