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Ihfcmc Advanced RcJcuch hojccts Agrncy
Advanced Systcms Technology Ofkc
3701 North Foirlon Drive
Arlington. VA 22203-1715
Am Overview OP DARPA's
Adwumdl Space TccBowo~ogy Program
I. P SP w 0 r) c CT IO s
In the rhrcc dccdes thmt have clapcd rime the beginning
of the spuce aae. satellites have incronscrl in prrkirmrncc
ond cspohility hy orders of magnitutk. Dcniantls for more
copocity hnve. in many cases. ken met by merely
increasing the sire and wight of h satclli\cs. with more
channrls for communication or mote mrmciry or mnrc
proccsring capability, but still reprcscntotive of thc
clisring stoic-of.the.ut. In general. the Dire of satrllites
hns grown sianificantly ovcr the early irail.hla?cr
vcrsinns with their admittedly limited capobiiitics. Yet.
thcre are indicaticms that we still hnve n Ion8 way to go
klt,rc he ultimate limits ue rcochcd in "mating thing*
small."
In the present economic climate. it amwar* ccrtnin that
there will he significant cutbackr in most arras of the
dcfcnw htljict. including militory rpace ay*!rmq. fhc
I.kputrncnt id Dcfcnsc (DoD) and thc dcfcntc iritlintry will
he eapecied to design oncl field more MJVMCC~I and mcirc
efficient spnre systems. These newer systenu must, mit
will. make even more use of miniaturircct hifih technology
components thnn are incorporated in our current stable of
satel;ites. Using this philosaphy. future syctcmr cnn he
e~pcctcd to hove cqual. if not grratcr. capabilities thon
most ol he current systems on a unit wciBht hnsis. Upon
implemcntntion ol this philosophy of reductinn in the size
md cost of huth satellites UKI lhcir tnorter rockets. we
wiil hove made major steps toward synergistically
satisfying cmcrging national nccds for retponsive and
reconstitutoblc space systems.
The Defeme Advanced Research Projccls Akrncy (DARPA)
is the ccntrnl research and development orgnnir.niion ol the
DoD and. as such. has primary re*pnsibility lor the
maintenance of U.S. technological superiority over
potential adversaries. DARPA's programs locus on
technology development and proof-of-concept
demonstrations of blh evolutionary and revolutionary
epproaches lor improved strategic. conventional. rapiddeploymcnt
nntl sea ;mwer forces md on the scirntific
investigotion into adv~ced basic tcchnolngics of the
future. DARPA cnn move quickly IO exploit new idcar md
c,oncepts hy working directly with industry and
universities.
For four years, DARPA's Advanced Spocc Technology
PIOgrmr (ASTP) htu addressed various ways to irnpve the
pCrfO~MCe of small sate~~ites md launch vehiclcs. The
advanced iC%hnologies lhaI are being md will be developed
by DARPA for small satellites CM Se used just N easily on
luge Sakiliter. The primary objective of the ASTP is lo
Col E. NicatriI and 1. l)nld2*
2. The Arroqpre Corpornlion
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955 LEnfant Plaza. S.W.
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enhance support lo opcrnlional commanders by
devcloping and applying advanced technologies that will
provitlc wst.elfcctivc. timely. flcxihlc and rrspcinsive
spxc systcms. Fundamcntal to the ASTP cffort is finding
new woys to do business with the goal of quickly ictcrting
new tcchnoltrgics into DoU space systcms while rcr,ucinp;
cost. In our vicw. thcw nwthods arc ;wime cxnmples of
uhat may tw tcrmed "technology leveraging."
The ASTP is a muliidisciplinary technology development
cfkirt aimed at quickly exploiting dvanccd tcchnologie3.
lncludcd in the program ue:
Sponsorship of the initial launchcs of the
Pcgarus Air.Launched Vchiclc (ALV) ond thc
ilcvrlopmcnt of a Standard Small Launch Vrhicle
(SSLV);
Dcvclnpmrnt of cnohling tcctiniilngicc
tubdividcd into sntellite support suhsyetcrns.
SAlCllile poyloads UI~
communication terminals:
Development and launch of small satellitcs lor
demonstration to and evaluation by the military
Services. lncludcd in this area arc the Multiple
Access Communications Satellite (MACSAT)
program uid the Microsat program:
Development of standdired. multimisrion
common bus undcr the Advanced Technology
Sundnnl Satellite Bus (ATSSR) program; and
Development of two advanced technology
satellite demonstrations scheduled for lnunch in
the mid-1990s. The Advonccd Satellite
Technologies for EtIF Communication (ASTEC)
program will develop and launch two EIIF
payloads. The Collahorotion on Advanced
M u I i i s pe c ti a l E ar I h 0 bse rv at i on (CA hl EO )
program will develop and launch a multiple-use.
remote scnsing, multispectral payload.
The ASTP has initiated ovcr SO technology projccts. many
of which have been coniplctcd and transitioncd to uscrs.
The objectives arc to quickly qualify these hiRher risk
technologies for use on furJre programs and reduce the risk
of inserting rhese technologies into mojor systctns. and to
provide the minieturizcd systems that would cnahlc smaller
satellites to hnve significant -- rather than limited -.
capability. Only few of the advanced technologies can
be describcd here. Ihc majority of which are applicable to
both luge and small ratellites.
The authors wish to acknowledge &e valuable contributions of LTC Robert J. Bonometti. DARPA. and John bairn.
Spre Applications Corporation.
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