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A Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) is a type of
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...
designed to extend the functional lifetime of another spacecraft through
on-orbit satellite servicing On-orbit satellite servicing refers to refueling or repairing space satellites while in orbit. New commercial interest in on-orbit servicing of satellites is in large part due to the decreased costs of launching commercial satellites and the ri ...
. They are 2010s-design small-scale in-space satellite-refueling spacecraft first launched in 2019. The MEV spacecraft grew out of a concept proposed in 2011 by ViviSat, a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms US Space and
Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. ATK's ...
(ATK). The
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
was created in 2010 for the purpose of designing, producing and operating the MEV program. Since the original conception of the MEV program by the ViviSat company, the Vivisat venture was shut down for a time, and the company was dissolved by Orbital ATK in April 2016. The MEV program continued on as a solo-project of Orbital ATK, which was subsequently purchased by
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...
in 2018. The MEV program continued under Northrop Grumman and in 2019, launched ''MEV-1'' to dock and reposition
Intelsat 901 Intelsat 901 (IS-901) was the first of nine new Intelsat satellites launched in June 2001 at 18° West, providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and C-band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean region. It is capable of selectable split uplin ...
, an objective reached in April 2020. Servicing an on-orbit satellite in this way was a space industry first for a telerobotically operated spacecraft, as satellite servicing had previously been accomplished only with on-orbit human assistance in the several missions to service the
Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...
.


History

ViviSat proposed the ''Mission Extension Vehicle'' (MEV) concept in 2011. At that time, the project was planned to be a 50/50 joint venture of aerospace firms US Space and
Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. ATK's ...
(ATK), to operate as a small-scale in-space satellite-refueling spacecraft. In the joint venture, ATK was to be responsible for the technical design, production and operation of the satellite, and US Space would be responsible for the financing and business-side of operations. By March 2012, ViviSat was finalizing its design and was "ready to build" the servicing spacecraft, but had announced no customers for the Mission Extension Vehicle services. In April 2014, ATK announced that it would merge its Aerospace and Defense Groups with
Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...
. In the timeframe 2013–2016, the partners ATK and US Space fell out concerning the joint ViviSat-venture. The situation ended with ATK (which in the meantime in 2015 had merged with Orbital Sciences Corporation to become Orbital ATK) taking control and dissolving the ViviSat-company on 5 April 2016. The MEV program continued as Orbital-ATK only project. In December 2017, the US telecommunications regulator approved a plan submitted by Orbital ATK to use an MEV to service an
Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...
satellite,
Intelsat 901 Intelsat 901 (IS-901) was the first of nine new Intelsat satellites launched in June 2001 at 18° West, providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and C-band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean region. It is capable of selectable split uplin ...
, that was originally launched to
geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...
in June 2001 for a planned in-service life of 13 years. That satellite had already been replaced in orbit. The first MEV, MEV-1, was then planned to launch with
Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...
's
Eutelsat 5 West B Eutelsat 5 West B is a geostationary communications satellite. It is owned by European satellite communications company Eutelsat. It launched on October 9, 2019, at 10:17 UTC on a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satell ...
commsat, no earlier than 2019. MEV-1 also needed a licence from
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...
(NOAA). The NOAA license is required because the MEV-1 has cameras for docking that could also image the Earth, thus necessitating a remote-sensing license. In 2018, Orbital ATK was acquired by
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...
to become
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of A ...
. The MEV program continues under this new company. MEV-1 was set to launch on a Russian
Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in ...
rocket along with
Eutelsat 5 West B Eutelsat 5 West B is a geostationary communications satellite. It is owned by European satellite communications company Eutelsat. It launched on October 9, 2019, at 10:17 UTC on a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satell ...
satellite on 30 September 2019, but the launch was postponed to 9 October 2019 due to issues with the integration of control systems of
Briz-M The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on ...
orbit insertion stage and the satellites. MEV-1 was launched on 9 October 2019. MEV-1 rendezvoused with
Intelsat 901 Intelsat 901 (IS-901) was the first of nine new Intelsat satellites launched in June 2001 at 18° West, providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and C-band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean region. It is capable of selectable split uplin ...
on 25 February 2020 at 07:15 UTC, and by April 2020 had repositioned the commsat so that it could come back on line in its designated geosynchronous spot, a space industry first for a telerobotic spacecraft, and something that had only previously been done on the
Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...
servicing missions with direct human assistance. The goal is to extend its operational life by five years via in-orbit stationkeeping. After the Intelsat 901 mission ends, MEV-1 is designed to be able to dock and undock additional times, potentially enabling it to service additional satellites.


Missions

* MEV-1 — launched on 9 October 2019 on a
Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mas ...
rocket; rendezvoused with
Intelsat 901 Intelsat 901 (IS-901) was the first of nine new Intelsat satellites launched in June 2001 at 18° West, providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and C-band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean region. It is capable of selectable split uplin ...
on 25 February 2020; satellite initial servicing and repositioning completed with Intelsat-901 returned to service on 2 April 2020; expected end of mission with Intelsat-901 in 2025. * MEV-2 — launched on 15 August 2020 on
Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads into ...
to service Intelsat 10-02. On 12 April 2021, the MEV-2 vehicle successfully attached to the target satellite Intelsat 10-02.


Technical capabilities and competition

ViviSat saw competition for space servicing business with the 2011 announcement of the Space Infrastructure Servicing (SIS) vehicle from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA). However, the two vehicles intended to operate with different technology approaches. Whilst the ViviSat design connects to the target satellite and uses "its own thrusters to supply
attitude control Attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of an aerospace vehicle with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, etc. Controlling vehicle ...
for the target"., SIS MDA would open the satellite's fuel lines, refuel it, then depart. In a June 2012 article in ''The Space Review'', a number of approaches to satellite servicing were discussed. ViviSat's Mission Extension Vehicle was reported to operate at the "less complex" end of the technology spectrum, which could offer higher reliability and reduced risk to satellite owners. ViviSat believed their approach was simpler and could operate at lower cost than MDA, while having the technical ability to dock with "90% of the 450 or so
geostationary A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...
satellites in orbit", whereas MDA SIS could open and refuel only 75%. "In addition to extending the life of an out-of-fuel satellite, the company could also rescue fueled spacecraft like AEHF-1 by docking with it in its low orbit, using its own motor and fuel to place it in the right orbit, and then moving to another target". , ViviSat planned to use the ATK A700
satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...
.


See also

* ConeXpress — an ESA concept vehicle to perform the same mission. * Orbital Express — a 2007
Federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...
,
DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...
-sponsored mission to test in-space satellite servicing technologies with two vehicles designed from the start for on-orbit refueling and subsystem replacement. *
Propellant depot An orbital propellant depot is a cache of propellant that is placed in orbit around Earth or another body to allow spacecraft or the transfer stage of the spacecraft to be fueled in space. It is one of the types of space resource depots that ha ...


References

{{Orbital launches in 2019 Orbital Sciences Corporation Northrop Grumman spacecraft Spacecraft launched in 2019 2019 in the United States Satellites of the United States Service satellites