Momentus Inc. ($MNTS) announced yesterday that it signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to conduct an RPO demo mission on SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter-16 flight, which is expected to launch no earlier than March.
The agreement is designed to prepare for future in-space servicing missions, and will validate a handful of technologies, including multispectral satellite inspection, formation flying, and WiFi-based inter-satellite links.
I spy: The mission will begin with NASA’s R5-S10 cubesat hitching a ride to orbit alongside other hosted payloads, onboard Momentus’ Vigoride 7 Orbital Service Vehicle.
Once deployed, R5-S10—which is being managed by NASA’s small spacecraft technology program and the agency’s engineering directorate—will attempt to fly in formation with Vigoride.
- R5-S10 will also attempt to take photos to assess Vigoride’s health from a distance.
- It will test a low-cost multispectral sensor that Momentus developed as part of a $1.9M Air Force SpaceWERX contract in June. (The system is intended to help prove out SSA, and relative navigation.)
- Momentus will then attempt to use WiFi to transmit large files from NASA’s cubesat, to the larger Vigoride vehicle.
Crystal ball: By flying close, snapping a pic, and using Vigoride as a relay to downlink the images to operators at Momentus and JSC, the partnership aims to open the door for cost-effective servicing missions that use autonomous operations and real-time views from space to service satellites in flight.
“By demonstrating RPO, inter-satellite communication, and formation flying, this mission lays the foundation for a future where spacecraft operate with greater autonomy—ushering in a new era for in-orbit assembly, servicing, and deep-space exploration,” Momentus said in a statement.
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UKSA awarded contracts to three companies worth a combined $1.1M+ to advance in-orbit manufacturing.
Details of the contracts include:
“By backing these innovative companies to explore manufacturing in orbit, we’re positioning the UK to capture new markets and bring tangible benefits back to Earth—from better medicines, to more efficient electronics,” UKSA CEO Paul Bate said in a statement.
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