L. A. SECTION ENTERPRISE CHAPTER

DEVELOPING NANOSAT LAUNCH VEHICLES/TRAINING STUDENTS

John Garvey, CEO of Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, has found a way to educate students in operational practices applicable to launch vehicles as well as academic uses of their payloads. He does so by targeting a market niche that emphasizes small payloads; namely, the nanosats.

As he indicated in his presentation to the AIAA Los Angeles Section Enterprise Chapter on August 1, 2006, John’s pedestrian definition of a nanosat payload is one that a graduate student or young second lieutenant can lift. More accurately, his definition of satellite categories is as follows: microsats weigh between 10 and 100 kilograms, nanosats weigh between 1 and 10 kilos, and and picosats weigh 1 kilo or less.

Garvey has leveraged an extensive background in space technology, including communication satellites, planetary exploration technology, Space Station development, and Delta and DC-X launch vehicle development to start his own business, based in Long Beach, in the year 2000. His focus is on launch vehicle development and flight testing of nanosats. He has only two full-time employees, outsources quite extensively, and in a partnering arrangement with California State University at Long Beach (CSULB), utilizes students to fabricate parts and assemble, ground test, and flight test the vehicles.

Academia is a prime market segment for nanosats. Academia is more tolerant of failures than the government because its primary goal is learning, and students can learn much from failures. Garvey tries to launch as many academic payloads as possible with two main objectives: engage in launch vehicle R & D and provide hardware hands-on experience to aerospace engineering students. So far, Garvey Spacecraft Corporation has conducted 17 flight tests and has launched payloads for various universities in California and Montana. Most of the hands-on experience is by CSULB students.

Garvey’s strategy is to keep things small, to emphasize low cost, and to be patient in growing the company. In the near term he is emphasizing low altitude shots. They permit simpler vehicle designs and avoid certain system costs (e.g. thrust termination and destruct systems) and the ponderous procedures and paperwork associated with support facilities required for launch preparation, FAA clearance, and range safety of high altitude shots. Other cost savings are achieved by continually refining work practices to lower labor and material costs, teaming with efficient subcontractors and universities (including student internships), flight testing often to lower overhead rates, and using only one well-developed propulsion system (LOX/Ethanol) to keep facilities small.

Using Mojave as the site of most launches, this approach has produced a Kimbo and a Prospector series of launch vehicles that do not fly very high. FAA waivers are easy to get for altitudes below 25,000 ft. and the vehicles are recovered by parachute downrange (often within walking distance) for reuse. About 9 months ago, after only 18 hours of on-site preparation by a crew of about 30, the Prospector 7A flew, was recovered and carried back to the launch site by about 10 students, refueled and launched again as Prospector 7B in 3.5 hours – a fast turnaround! Simplified design (e.g. using fins rather than gyroscopes for stability) allows for quick hands-on adjustments in the field.

Garvey sees an annual market of nanosats more numerous (hundreds) than large dollar value GEO payloads (tens) or small sats in LEO (more than 10, less than 100). There is an increasing need for more frequent flights than large high-overhead piggyback programs can supply. This need includes payloads for studies on subjects such as earthquakes, earth imaging, bio zero-g research, robotics and networking, synthetic apertures for telescopes, and space electrical bus development. To penetrate this market, Garvey plans to develop a nanosat launch vehicle (NLV) that can reach higher altitudes.

Continuing his incremental moderately paced approach (e.g. he has developed a small circular reusable aerospike engine) Garvey, in response to feedback from the nanosat community, has defined trajectory, load, staging, pressurization, fuel and other requirements for a launcher to 250 km orbit.

The higher altitude flights will involve new launch sites and higher costs. There will be more government involvement and more complex contracts; i.e., cost-plus contracts that necessitate government-approved accounting systems. Although it will lead to increased indirect costs, Garvey intends to accommodate the added business complexity in order to compete on the larger projects.

Guido Frassinelli 09/03/06