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Orbital Express program summary and mission overview
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2008
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Space MissionSmall SatelliteMission OverviewOrbital Express SpacecraftEngineeringMission-critical SystemAerospace EngineeringSpacecraft ControlSpace Mission DesignHigh LevelSpace TechnologySystems EngineeringOrbital Express ProgramSpacecraft EngineeringSpace MissionsSpace EngineeringSpacecraft Wakes
The Orbital Express program was launched to prove that satellite‑servicing challenges could be overcome. The paper outlines the program’s goals, milestones, achievements, and obstacles addressed during the mission. The mission successfully demonstrated autonomous rendezvous, capture, berthing, electronics upgrades, refueling, and fly‑around inspection, completing all objectives with 100 % success between March and July 2007.
The Orbital Express program was created to prove that the technical obstacles to satellite servicing were surmountable- to "take the technical excuse off the table" as it were. This mission demonstrated short range and long range autonomous rendezvous, capture and berthing, on-orbit electronics upgrades, on-orbit refueling, and autonomous fly-around visual inspection using a demonstration client satellite. The Orbital Express spacecraft were launched March 8, 2007 and completed their mission on July 22, 2007. 100% of mission success criteria and objectives were achieved. This paper describes, at a high level, the program goals and objectives, key milestones & events, accomplishments, and some of the obstacles that were overcome during the mission.