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NASA’s deep space atomic clock is one of three projects to transform space communications, deep space navigation and in-space propulsion capabilities.
Image credit: NASA
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U.K.-based Surrey Satellite Technology is no stranger to delivering small satellite missions, in fact, since the company’s birth in 1981, it has already launched 41 of such spacecraft. Until recently, Surrey hadn’t tapped into the U.S. market from its new Colorado facility, but that’s about to change according to John Paffett, CEO of Surrey Satellite Technology U.S. division (SST-US), a subsidy of the U.K. company.
Optimism and excitement resonate among company officials as upcoming launches develop. “It’s the first of our U.S. missions to go through our new facility in Colorado. It’s a great first step for the group,” he said during an exclusive telephone interview with SatelliteTODAY.com on July 1.
“One of the things we found was that there were a large number of payloads that have been developed that didn’t have flight opportunities,” he said noting that SST-US can now fill that void with its corporate headquarters and satellite manufacturing located at the new facility providing full mission capabilities. “We were quite surprised by the level of interest and demand,” he added.
The process of coordinating satellite missions often presents technicians and managers with significant challenges. But for officials at SST-US, these tasks were not insurmountable, according to Paffet. By understanding constraints and customer requirements, he said SSI-US was not only able to overcome these obstacles, but also increase payload capacity size. “We decided to come up in [capacity] size so we could increase what we could offer to us customer base,” Paffett said. “Rather than having a fixed solution we’ve tried to work with payload providers to fit their payloads,” he added.
One of the key offerings of the new U.S. headquarters includes customer payload integration, something that has caught the attention of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “It’s a low risk satellite platform, very attractive price point, and from a company that has a demonstrated track record for delivery of satellites,” Paffett said.
NASA has selected SST-US for the flight of the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) payload under the sponsorship of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). Under the agreement, SST-US will provide a hosted payload flight opportunity for the NASA DSAC payload on its upcoming OTB mission, which is scheduled for a 2015 launch. DSAC will fly on the SST-US-owned-and-operated Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite, the first spacecraft to be integrated at the new SST-US facility.
Allen Farrington, manager of the deep space atomic clock project at NASA’s JPL, agreed with Paffett during an exclusive interview with SatelliteTODAY.com also on July 1. He said that the primary advantage of this type of payload “is a cost savings over the purchase of a semi-custom spacecraft,” noting that NASA had considered several other competitors of Surrey.
While declining to provide specific names of competing companies, Farrington said that NASA looked at “many companies, including traditional spacecraft vendors, commercial hosting vendors, and small spacecraft vendors,” he said. Ultimately, Surrey came out as the winner in the deals for several reasons, Farrington said, including that, “the mission opportunity Surrey offered – the Orbital Testbed Mission – was the only mission that met our specific orbital/spacecraft environment requirements on the schedule that we had,” he said.
Under the terms of the agreement SST-US will provide a hosted payload flight opportunity for the NASA DSAC payload on its upcoming OTB mission, scheduled for launch during 2015. DSAC features a miniaturized, ultra-precise mercury-ion atomic clock. In-orbit demonstration of the precision timing and navigation capabilities of the DSAC instrument is a key requirement for NASA’s pursuit of deep space exploration missions which require higher-precision data collection and autonomous radio navigation for time-critical events such as orbit insertion or landing.

Farrington said that NASA has very specialized requirements including orbital altitude, spacecraft environments, and available spacecraft resources.
”For example, we had to be below the GPS constellation at MEO but above 500 km. The spacecraft had to have a particular pointing error and be quiescent with no wheels, no significant torquer action or thrusters for six days straight. We require about 80 W of OAP and 50 kg of available mass,” Farrington added.
The OTB satellite, owned and operated by SST-US, is currently in design and manufacture stages. The spacecraft will qualify and demonstrate an array of payload equipment and subsystem technologies, in addition to the DSAC payload. SST-US will integrate the OTB satellite in its new facility in Englewood, Colo.
While Farrington, said NASA’s JPL is “constantly considering various payloads and mission opportunities depending on NASA’s needs and mission requirements,” SST-US will also take a similar approach to future missions – for both the company and its customers.
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