from the space-is-a-notoriously-unforgiving-environment dept.
California-based Momentus is currently performing its first test of an orbital transfer vehicle known as Vigoride-3, but the 180-day demo mission is off to a rocky start.
The Vigoride-3 orbital transfer vehicle, in space since late May, is running on low power and likely won't be able to deploy any more satellites to low Earth orbit, according to the latest Momentus update. Solar arrays that were folded for launch failed to open, resulting in the current power and communications issues with Vigoride-3. That communication frequencies might've been misconfigured prior to launch hasn't helped matters.
Known as a "space tug," the Vigoride spacecraft is designed to carry and deploy small satellites to specific orbital locations. Once in orbit, Vigoride will use its innovative thrusters to maneuver in space. It was supposed to deploy nine payloads for several customers over the course of this 180-day mission, as a company spokesperson confirmed in an email. In addition, Momentus was hoping to test Vigoride's Microwave Electrothermal Thruster, which uses water as a propellant, but that's now in doubt.
Despite these setbacks, Momentus is maintaining its launch schedule for the current year and into 2023. This includes the SpaceX Transporter 6 rideshare mission, currently scheduled for launch in November 2022.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @05:00AM
They need to leave the serious stuff like this to Boeing.
(Score: 1) by Retian on Thursday June 16 2022, @11:55AM (1 child)
Well no wonder they're not in space yet if they're so busy fucking around in the ocean!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @05:11PM
I think you meant to say "Under da sea!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @05:30PM (2 children)
So the satellite owner needs to have less station keeping fuel or does not need a booster to reach proper orbit, vs this needing to burn enough fuel to move the satellite, itself, and all the fuel it will burn over all missions in its lifetime. It seems like it would waste way more fuel (ie money) to get the damn thing into proper orbit then if the satellite was capable itself. I guess it uses electric + water for trust, but i dont see that being more efficient then normal fuel in a thrust/kg metric. Feel free to correct me, perhaps i am being overly skeptical. perhaps they plan to refuel in orbit?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @08:46PM (1 child)
Electric engines produce very little thrust and require a lot of energy but they can easily run at full power for months or even years on a small amount of fuel. Using a tug means that you only need one such engine (and the solar panels to power it) to deliver a batch of satellites while only needing a little extra fuel. This is especially important for small-sats because the engine and panels needed to get them to their final orbits could easily outweigh any individual satellite and is only needed once.
The novelty of this engine is that it uses cheap water instead of expensive xenon gas.
Momentus has plans for a larger vehicle for servicing large satellites, but in orbit refuelling just isn't worth it for a small-sat tug. It might make sense to add a heat shield so you can land it for reuse, but the economics of that are iffy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 17 2022, @01:59AM
I know some guys who did a lot of work on MET thrusters in the early 2000s. They could never get NASA interested to take it beyond the lab despite vacuum chamber demos and many proposals. There was always some review "expert" who really didn't like the concept for one reason or another.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @05:31PM
The first flight of a new vehicle is always dicey. We'll see if the next one works out any better.