Kissimmee, Fla. – SabreSat, Redwire House’s satellite tv for pc for very low Earth orbit, appears extra like a dart than a standard spacecraft.
“As you concentrate on aerodynamics, you need the dart to be skinny and lengthy, not stubby and fats,” Spence Clever, Redwire senior vice chairman for missions and platforms, informed SpaceNews.
Redwire is designing SabreSat for presidency intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
“You wouldn’t wish to deliver a type of multimillion greenback payloads into VLEO simply to have it deorbit,” Clever mentioned. “So we’re constructing a persistent platform able to delivering on the shopper’s wants for beautiful payloads.”
VLEO Benefits
In recent times, corporations have labored to set up constellations at altitudes starting from 250 to 400 kilometers to collect high-resolution Earth imagery and to offer low-latency communications.
Redwire sees benefits for nationwide safety satellites to function at VLEO altitudes from 90 to 350 kilometers.
“Getting twice as shut offers you a 400 p.c enchancment in your sensor efficiency for electro-optical, infrared and all kinds of functions that the U.S. authorities is serious about,” Clever mentioned.
Flying above uncrewed aerial automobiles and under proliferated low-Earth orbit constellations provides resiliency too, mentioned Dean Bellamy Redwire government vice chairman for nationwide safety house.
If collisions happen or antisatellite weapons strike targets in conventional low-Earth orbits, VLEO satellites wouldn’t be affected.
“We name it the orbital drone. It provides a brand new functionality,” Bellamy mentioned.
SabreSat and SkimSat
Redwire CEO Peter Cannito introduced SabreSat throughout a March earnings name. On the time, he cited the significance for Redwire of shifting up the worth chain from supplying elements to delivering spacecraft.
SabreSat advantages from experience in Redwire’s European arm. The previous QinetiQ House, acquired by Redwire in 2022, is working with Thales Alenia House on SkimSat, a VLEO platform for Earth-observation functions funded by the European House Company.
SkimSat and SabreSat depend on electrical propulsion to compensate for drag in VLEO.
“We’re presently engaged on the design section for our VLEO platform on the European entrance,” Juan Pablo Ramos, Redwire House enterprise improvement supervisor, mentioned in April on the 39th House Symposium in Colorado Springs. “We’re specializing in sustaining operations in VLEO so long as attainable.”
Air-Respiratory Choice
Along with normal electrical thrusters, Redwire is providing clients an air-breathing possibility for SabreSat.
“Relying on the length of the mission, we now have the power to scoop atomic oxygen and nitrogen to make the most of in our electrical thrusters,” Clever mentioned. Photo voltaic panels present further energy.
SabreSat is designed with bulkheads. When clients want extra payload capability than a 200-kilogram SabreSat gives, Redwire provides bulkheads to the middle of the satellite tv for pc, sustaining the dart-like form. Extending the satellite tv for pc’s size additionally will increase accessible energy. Photo voltaic arrays mounted on the perimeters scale with the size, Clever mentioned.
Digital Engineering
By digital engineering, Redwire is exploring SabreSat configurations for numerous altitudes.
“We created a plugin that enables us to mannequin the drag of sparse gasoline as you journey by means of the thermosphere,” Clever mentioned.
At sure altitudes, “we are able to gather extra atomic oxygen and nitrogen than we might really expel,” Clever mentioned, “which implies that in concept, you possibly can fully maneuver with out remorse, make numerous maneuvers, orbit adjustments and so forth.”
As a result of SabreSat depends on electrical thrusters, the maneuvers will take time. “However it’s a distinctive functionality,” Clever mentioned.
