Altius Space Machines

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Altius Space Machines Inc.
TypePrivate
Founded2010; 11 years ago (2010)
FounderJonathan Goff
Headquarters
3001 Industrial Ln #5, Broomfield, Colorado, U.S.
Key people
Patrick Loner
(President & CEO)
Manish Kothari
(President, SRI Ventures)

Altius Space Machines is a seed-stage startup company that is developing a novel rendezvous and capture technology for uncooperative satellites.[1] The company's products both enable, and are enabled by, the more recent lower-cost access to space epitomized by NewSpace launch companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace.[2]


History[]

2010–2012[]

In 2010, Altius Space Machines, with support from the SRI International invented the "Sticky Boom" Electroadhesive Boom-Rendezvous system to solve several of the key challenges associated with rendezvous and capture of the (OSC) for a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. This system significantly improves on previously proposed sample canister capture systems, by providing the following key features: • High inherent safety — Contact and capture event takes place at a significant distance from the orbiter

• Electromechanical steering for the last few meters of the OS rendezvous and capture process – Reduces rendezvous propellant consumption

• High tolerance for positioning and velocity errors between orbiter and target – Reduces requirements for precision control of orbiter during the capture maneuver.

• Very low mass and volume compared to other solutions

• The same system can capture the OS and transfer it to an Earth Entry Vehicle using the same hardware.

• Provides a simple means of reliable, non-mechanical contact and proximity detection.

• Low-risk solution—booms are based on systems with extensive flight experience, the capture device has seen extensive testing in a terrestrial environment as well as successful preliminary microgravity dynamic testing aboard a parabolic aircraft.

• Small enough for affordable near-term testing in LEO using CubeSat or other rideshare opportunities.

In July 2011, Altius Space Machines won first place in the 2011 in Silicon Valley, sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation.[1]

Altius won a contract with DARPA in July 2012 to build a composite extensible robotic boom arm for the DARPA Phoenix project.[3][4][5] They also began work in 2012 developing Gecko-adhesive grippers, as part of work to build a Gecko Gripper Touch-to-Grasp tool that incorporated JPL’s "synthetic Gecko adhesive technology that mimics the ability of Gecko lizards to adhere to walls." The work leveraged previous work done by Altius on uncooperative capture mechanisms using electroadhesion.[6][7]

2013-2015[]

In 2014, Altius began work on a magnetoshell aerocapture and aerobraking technology for cubesats. Called MIDAS, Multi-Purpose Interplanetary Deployable Aerocapture System, the 6U cubesats will be designed to be used on an interplanetary mission such as to Mars, Venus, or Jupiter's moon Europa[8][9]

Other work includes the "Kraken Asteroid Boulder Retrieval System." In late 2014, Altius expects to test prototypes of grasping arms and non-force-closure gripper concepts for capturing a boulder off the surface of an asteroid. The study is funded by NASA as part of their broader Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) project, and is intended to mature system concepts and key technologies while assessing the feasibility of potential commercial partnerships for ARM.[10]

In 2015 Altius win contract to build :lightweight robotic manipulators, that utilize rollable composite STEM booms to provide a prismatic extension/retraction DOF, as robot arms for (AFFs) on the International Space Station. These Low-Inertia STEM Arm (LISA) manipulators can provide comparable or better manipulation capabilities to AFFs than traditional robotic manipulators, but with less mass, lower inertia, better stowability, and the ability to reach into very hard-to-access locations.:[11][12]

2016-2018[]

2019-Present[]

Hardware[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Wall, Mike (4 August 2011). "Satellite Grappler Snags Top Space Business Prize". Business News Daily. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  2. ^ Foust, Jeff (16 August 2011). "The evolving ecosystem of NewSpace". The Space Review. Retrieved 15 August 2011. Since the term came into vogue about five years ago, supplanting the geekier “alt.space” moniker, it’s been most commonly associated with entrepreneurial ventures developing suborbital and orbital vehicles. ... While an exact, widely-accepted definition of NewSpace still eludes the space community, it’s increasingly clear that constraining the scope of NewSpace to vehicle developers is too limiting. ... SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, ... New companies are emerging that seek to develop technologies that can either enable or be enabled by low-cost access to space and thus can arguably be considered part of NewSpace. [Examples include] Altius Space Machines ... Masten Space Systems ... Innovative Space Propulsion Systems ... Celestial Circuits [and] Final Frontier Design. ... NewSpace ... is a way of doing business and NewSpace is an industry doing business in a new way. ... NewSpace is an industry that’s doing business for a purpose ... a NewSpace company is a company that is built, formed, operated by, funded by, or has as part of its business plan the opening of the space frontier, and making a profit while doing so ... It is the industrial engine that will power the movement towards a more fundamental goal of space settlement.
  3. ^ http://www.universetoday.com/96371/darpa-moving-ahead-with-building-zombie-frankensatellites/
  4. ^ http://www.defensedaily.com/publications/smr/Altius-Space-Machines-NovaWurks-Awarded-DARPA-Phoenix-Contracts_18879.html
  5. ^ http://moonandback.com/2012/07/31/altius-space-machines-signs-darpa-phoenix-contract/
  6. ^ Altius Space Machines Wins Contract to Develop Touch-to-Grasp Gripper with JPL, accessed June 28, 2014.
  7. ^ Phoenix Gecko Gripper, accessed June 28, 2014.
  8. ^ Altius Space Machines Displays MIDAS Touch with Deep Space CubeSats, accessed June 28, 2014.
  9. ^ NASA Eyes Sending CubeSats into Deep Space, accessed June 28, 2014.
  10. ^ NASA Selects 18 Proposals for Asteroid Redirect Mission Studies, accessed June 28, 2014.
  11. ^ NASA.gov
  12. ^ http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/05/12/altius-sbir/

Coordinates: 39°55′20″N 105°06′09″W / 39.9223199589016°N 105.1025781309834°W / 39.9223199589016; -105.1025781309834

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