QuickStar: System design, capabilities, and tactical applications of a small, smart space system
Abstract
The QuickStar System is not a concept--it is a flight-proven design. QuickStar is a small, highly capable, low-cost, lightweight spacecraft using modern design techniques that can carry tactical assets into space at a tenth of the cost of current systems. System design, relevant technologies, payload capabilities (mass, power, data rate, pointing, volume), and tactical mission applications of this lightweight satellite are described. As part of the overall small satellite system architecture, a portable, low-cost multipurpose ground station to support production, test, launch, and orbit operations of the space segment is also available. The versatility and transportability built into the ground station allows placement at any government installation or field site. The prototype QuickStar space segment was developed to ride as a secondary payload on a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 series expendable launch vehicle (ELV). With the extra performance provided by the Delta 2 or other ELV of similar configuration, as many as four satellites could be orbited at one time. In addition, the paper describes a QuickStar satellite configuration, incorporating the same subsystems and capabilities as the prototype QuickStar, designed for stand-alone ELV (Scout or Pegasus) launchings. The program schedule for the design, fabrication, and test of a QuickStar satellite system reflects the fast-paced environment of a low-cost program. Minimal paper and much concurrent engineering goes into a schedule that provides a flight-ready spacecraft and supporting ground station in only 15 months.
- Publication:
-
In AGARD
- Pub Date:
- February 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993tsv..agar.....G
- Keywords:
-
- Ground Stations;
- Low Cost;
- Mass;
- Satellite Configurations;
- Spaceborne Experiments;
- Spacecraft Launching;
- Delta Launch Vehicle;
- Payloads;
- Pegasus Air-Launched Booster;
- Scout Launch Vehicle;
- Spacecraft Design, Testing and Performance