NASA Selects Astrobotic for SBIR Award to Develop VSAT-XL for Lunar Power Study

NASA Selects Astrobotic for SBIR Award to Develop VSAT-XL for Lunar Power Study

Astrobotic, an American private company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions, has been selected by NASA for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award worth approximately $150k to develop an Extra Large Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT-XL) for the Moon. VSAT-XL’s impressive size, 34m tall and 12.5m wide, would be the largest planned lunar power infrastructure technology to date to meet the growing energy demands on the lunar surface.

This new array will build on the 10kW lunar VSAT already in development at Astrobotic under an existing NASA contract. VSAT-XL, like its smaller cousin, is a deployable, relocatable, self-leveling, sun-tracking solar powered system. However, it is designed to increase power output from 10 kW to 50 kW.

As the pace and scale of lunar exploration grows over the next decade, generating, storing, and transmitting power to lunar surface assets will be a critical infrastructure need for permanent lunar settlements,” said Lauren Whitehouse, Lead Structures Engineer at Astrobotic, “Our team is excited to incorporate multiple matured technologies into the development of a first-of-its-kind VSAT unit at this massive scale.”

The VSAT-XL system will incorporate engineering solutions developed by Astrobotic, including systems built for its lunar landers, lunar rovers, and the state-of-the-art 10 kW VSAT system, along with Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) from Redwire Space. The system is ideal for placement near polar craters, where its tall vertical arrays can capture solar energy at shallow sun elevations.

There is no existing lunar surface power generation and transmission solution that can satisfy the next generation of power needs at the 50 kW scale and above,” said Whitehouse, “We are developing both static and mobile variants, which means VSAT-XL will be designed to integrate with both landers and rovers, and will be grounded in Astrobotic and Redwire’s mature power systems.”

VSAT-XL is part of the LunaGrid system, Astrobotic’s power generation and distribution service for long-term human and robotic operations at the south pole of the Moon. LunaGrid is designed to supply power to enable crewed and robotic operations for months at a time, including Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) deliveries; larger decadal science missions; commercial payloads; and the Artemis campaign, requiring large quantities of lunar surface power. 

Click here to learn more about Astrobotic's Space Robotics.

Publisher: SatNow
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GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013