GEORyder Consortium Adds Dawn Aerospace
Enabling European Access to GEO Through a Reusable OTV
A consortium of eight European companies, led by Infinite Orbits of France, recently welcomed Dawn Aerospace to its ranks. The participants in the GEORyder Consortium are working together to offer greater accessibility and affordability to geostationary orbit (GEO) for Europe.
“Sustainability and reusability are in the DNA of Dawn, so we’re excited to bring both our experience and green ambitions to this worthwhile project.”
Jeroen Wink, Dawn Aerospace
The project involves creating an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) which will function as both a reusable kick stage to take satellites from low Earth orbit (LEO) to GEO, and as an on-orbit servicing vehicle equipped with rendezvous and refueling capabilities, allowing cost-effective in-orbit logistics, life extension and end of life disposal.
It is being funded through an €8 million (≈$8.6 million) Horizon Grant from the European Union with €1.2 million (≈$1.29 million) being awarded to Dawn Aerospace, which will bring its extensive heritage in green propulsion to the project.
“Sustainability and reusability are in the DNA of Dawn, so we’re excited to bring both our experience and green ambitions to this worthwhile project,” said Jeroen Wink, Dawn Aerospace co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer.
In-space servicing is a fledgling industry that aims to extend the life of satellites through refueling, and decrease space debris by removing defunct satellites. Creating a sustainable space economy is an integral part of ESA’s future road map. While OTVs have become well-established in LEO in recent years, their uptake in GEO has been slower, due to the typically larger size of geostationary satellites. However, as this technology miniatures and launch costs come down there is now a stronger case for OTVs with servicing capabilities in GEO.
Additionally, European sovereign access to GEO has recently been impeded by Russian sanctions and delays in Ariane Group's Ariane 6 rocket coming online. While launch options are available in the United States, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to GEO is booked up for the foreseeable future leaving only SpaceX’s Falcon 9 with availability. Using the Falcon 9, requires a kick stage to take satellites from LEO to GEO.
Dawn Aerospace has been tasked to lead in-space mobility and reusability for the OTV.
Dawn pioneered the use of nitrous-based propulsion in space as a replacement for toxic hydrazine. Its propulsion systems use nitrous oxide as the oxidizer, a non-toxic, low cost, readily accessible propellant which is compliant with the EU’s REACH regulations. The company has extensive space heritage with 76 thrusters in orbit and a further 200 plus on order.
This project will see Dawn developing large propulsion systems combining 200N thrusters capable of performing large delta-V GTO to GEO maneuvers, with Dawn's current portfolio of B1s and B20s for rendezvous and close proximity operations.
Reusability and scalability are integral parts of the design. Dawn will equip the propulsion system with a refueling port, and the OTV is being designed for industrial-scale manufacturing using a local European supply chain. “We’ve been designing our propulsion systems for scale manufacturing since day one at Dawn, it’s important to us that from the outset, this vehicle is designed so it can match the growth of the market.” Wink said.
Dawn is also undertaking analysis on the in-orbit refueling market in GEO for the project.