Program Overview

The Orbital Express program will demonstrate fully autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations, docking and robotic servicing of satellites to extend the life of on-orbit spacecraft. The long-term objective of Orbital Express is to reduce cost, increase flexibility, and usher in a new revolution in space operations.

Employing autonomous maneuverable satellites, the Orbital Express Space Operations Architecture program will validate the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling, repair, and reconfiguration of satellites to support a broad range of US national security, civil and commercial space programs.

Launched on an Atlas V rocket in March 2007, Orbital Express will conduct the first autonomous component exchange and first US refueling, as well as autonomous rendezvous and mating. The system will also demonstrate advanced unmanned robotic operations, including client satellite capture and berthing, plus satellite servicing. A state-of-the-art supervisory control infrastructure will enable autonomous on-orbit operations.

The flight demonstration is scheduled to last at least three months and may be extended up to a year. An operational version of Orbital Express could be deployed as early as 2009.

Under contract to DARPA, the Boeing Phantom Works team partners include NASA, Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Northrop Grumman, MDA, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., and Starsys Research.