There are at least 3 upcoming Air Force ESPA class S/C (15 secondary payload rideshare opportunities) currently scheduled. For the military, this capability will produce launch opportunities and missions of interest to customers such as MDA, DoD, and NRO. For commercial users, a successful demonstration will greatly increase the utility of ESPA-derived launch opportunities and will increase demand for ProPACS within the commercial industry. Commercial users may also wish to adopt the CubeSat architecture to conduct on-orbit experiments.
The proposed ProPACS system can distribute secondary payloads deployed at one location from a single ESPA to multiple other orbits separated by as much 800m/s deltaV. The proposed system will increase the number and value of flight opportunities for NASA and University researchers by more than an order of magnitude. By adapting the ProPACS to carry P-POD system for Cubesats, it could deliver 27 of 3kg CubeSats to nearly arbitrary orbits from a single ProPACS. A mix microsats and P-PODs on a single ESPA is also feasible, all with an option to go to widely disparate destinations. NASA Ames estimates there is an estimated 13,500 kilograms of excess lift capacity for ESPA payloads available between now and 2013.
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