Digital rendering of the Orbital Test Bed. Photo: SSTL

[Via Satellite 07-25-2014] Surrey Satellite Technology US has decided on five payloads to carry on the company’s Orbital Test Bed (OTB) mission in 2016. Using the SSTL-150 satellite bus, the OTB provides a means to test and space-qualify new technology in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The U.S. Air Force Academy will test its Integrated Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer (iMESA-R) sensor designed to sample the space environment in search of plasma irregularities for forecasting outages in space weather models. Vanguard Space Technologies is also testing a Modular Solar Array for the Air Force Research Lab.

The OTB mission will carry two university payloads. Surrey University plans to demonstrate its Electronics Test Bed (ETB), and the Colorado University Surrey Project (CUSP) a data collection and storage electronic test bed experiment. Lastly, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will test its Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC).

SpaceX is scheduled to launch the test platform on a Falcon Heavy rocket. After testing these payloads, the OTB mission will attempt to conclude by trialing a Terminator Tape Deorbit Module developed by Tethers Unlimited.