Attachment Spaceflight - Set As

Spaceflight - Set As

DECISION submitted by IB, FCC

Set Aside Reverted to Pending

2016-11-23

This document pretains to SAT-STA-20150821-00060 for Special Temporal Authority on a Satellite Space Stations filing.

IBFS_SATSTA2015082100060_1159655

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                                                                                                STH 20!50821—
                                              182015001561
             SAT—STA—20150821—00060
Spaceflight, Inc.                                                                                                 tDate_ 10 /25 /(
SHERPA
                                                                                                              Torm. Dm.s Tee           Approved by OMB
                                                                                                                      ,;._conditians             3060—0678

    Date & Time Filed: Aug 21 2015 7:13:16:996PM
    File Number: SAT—STA—20150821—00060
    Callsign:

                                                FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                                      APPLICATION FOR SPACE STATION SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY

                                                             FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

       APPLICANT INFORMATION
    Enter a description of this application to identify it on the main menu:
     SHERPA space station STA
     1. Applicant

                    Name:        Spaceflight, Inc.              Phone Number:                                 202—262—1825
                    DBA Name:                                   Fax Number:
                    Street:      PO Box 1922                    E—Mail:                                       THormmsby@SpaceflightIndustries.
                                                                                                              com


                    City:        Bellevnaue                     State:                                        WA
                    Country:     USA                            Zipcode:                                      98009       w
                    Attention:   Ms Indra Hornsby


                                             ATTACHMENT TO GRANT
                                                  Spaceflight Inc.
                                         IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060

IBFS File No(s):            SAT—STA—20150821—00060‘
Licensee/Grantee:           Spaceflight Inc.                                                        GRANT —
Satellite Name:             SHERPA                                                               With Conditions
Orbital Location:           NGSO in an elliptical orbit with a perigee altitude of
(required station—          450 km, apogee altitude of 720 km, and 97.4°
keeping tolerance)          inclination.


Administration:             United States of America
Nature of Service:          Space Operations                                                   International Bureau
Scope of Grant:             Authority to operate® one non—geostationary satellite for            Satellite Division
                            a period not to exceed 12 hours, in order to deploy the
                            spacecraft described in the SHERPA manifest."
Service Area(s):            Three earth stations* located in North Pole, Alaska, Tukwila, Washington, and Wallops
                            Island, Virginia.

Frequencies:                Command frequency:
                            450.2 MHz (Earth—to—space)

                       Telemetry and Tracking frequency:
                       401.5 MHz (space—to—Earth)
Operations under this grant must comport with the legal and technical specifications set forth by the
applicant or petitioner and with Federal Communication Commission‘s rules not waived herein. This
grant is also subject to the following conditions:

     1. All operations under this grant of special temporary authority must be on an unprotected and non—harmful
        interference basis, i.e., Spaceflight must not cause harmful interference to, and shall not claim protection
        from interference caused to it by, any other lawfully operating station.
    2.   In the event of any harmful interference under this grant of special temporary authority, Spaceflight must
         cease operations immediately upon notification of such interference and must inform the Commission, in
         writing, immediately of such an event.


‘ The application was placed on public notice on Jan. 22, 2016. Policy Branch Information Satellite Space Station
Applications Acceptedfor Filing, Public Notice, Report No. SAT—01130 (Jan. 22, 2016).
2 See infra, condition 3.
3 See Letter from Jonathan L. Wiener, Goldberg, Godles, Wiener & Wright LLP, to Jose P. Albuquerque, Chief, Satellite
Division, FCC International Bureau, Attach. at 1 (filed Nov. 2, 2015) (on file in IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060)
{listing 90 satellites for planned deployment from SHERPA); Letter from Henry Goldberg and Jonathan L. Wiener, Goldberg
Godles, Wiener & Wright LLP, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at 1 (filed June 17, 2016) (indicating that the
Pathfinder—1 satellite previously scheduled to be deployed by the SHERPA was removed from the manifest). An additional
satellite, the SeeMe satellite, will be deployed from the eXCITe satellite three weeks after the deployment of the eXCITe
spacecraft, but until then will remain part of the eXCITe spacecraft. See OET Experimental File No. 0540—EX—PL—2015,
Exhibits, ODAR at 1—2 (granted April 25, 2016), grant later modified in other respects by OET Experimental File No. 0089—
EX—ML—2016 (granted June 29, 2016). Spaceflight has stated that no additional spacecraft will be added to the manifest. See
Letter from Tony Lin, Counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at Exh. B (filed July 26,
2016) (enclosing letter from H. Indra Hornsby, General Counsel, Spaceflight, Inc. to Mike Safyan, Director of Launch and
Regulatory Affairs, Planet Labs, Inc., July 22, 2016).
* Spaceflight has requested communications between the SHERPA spacecraft and three earth stations. See IBFS File Nos.
SES—STA—20150824—00549, SES—STA—20150824—00550, and SES—STA—20150821—00051.
                                                        Page 1 of 5


                                               ATTACHMENT TO GRANT
                                                    Spaceflight Inc. _
                                           IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060

     3.       We waive, on our own motion, Section 25.113(g) of the Commission‘s rules, requiring orbital
              deployment approval and operating authority to be applied for and granted prior to orbital deployment
              and operation of a space station." We find that the special circumstances presented here, including the
              short operational lifetime of the space station, and the similarity of the space station to an upper stage
              launch vehicle, justify waiver of the rule. Further, waiver of the rule would not undermine the policy
              objective of the rule. The Commission has described the intent of the rule to be "that the approval
              process [for space stations] involves a public interest review of proposed space station operation and
              debris mitigation plans before a space station is launched into orbit."" Consistent with the intent of the
              rule, we have reviewed the description of space station operations and orbital debris mitigation plan
              submitted by Spaceflight, and make a finding that authorizing the space station is the public interest. In
              light of these specific circumstances, we conclude that waiver would serve the public interest. The rule is
              waived herein without prejudice to any future applications by Spaceflight, or by any other operators
              seeking authority to operate space stations designed to deploy satellites.
     4.       On May 11, 2016, ORBCOMM License Corp. (ORBCOMM) filed Informal Comments requesting that
              the Commission defer grant of this STA request.s ORBCOMM objected to grant of STA on the basis that
              the SHERPA spacecraft and satellites planned for deployment from SHERPA would use altitudes and
              orbital planes that would intersect with the authorized 47 degree—inclined 715 km circular target
              operational orbits for its ORBCOMM Generation 2 Satellites." ORBCOMM‘s concern is that it will be
              required to perform an unacceptably large numberof collision avoidance maneuvers, thereby impacting
              the service life of its satellites, as a result of potential collisions between its satellites and the SHERPA
              and SHERPA—deployed satellites."" ORBCOMM is also concerned that the SHERPA and the SHERPA—
              deployed satellites may collide with each other, thus creating debris that would affect ORBCOMM."" We
              find that, based on the conditions placed on this authorization and on the additional information filed in
              the record, including technical analysis placed in the record by Planet Labs Inc. (Planet Labs) and
              confirmed by Spaceflight," we can proceed with grant of Spaceflight‘s request for STA to operate the
              SHERPA spacecraft.
                     a. With respect to ORBCOMM‘s concern with an unacceptably large number of collision
              avoidance maneuvers, the Commission authorizations granted to Spire and Planet Labs are conditioned




°47 CFR § 25.113(g).
6 An upperstage launch vehicle would not be licensed by the Commission, to the extent that the vehicle falls within the
authority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). See Mifigation of Orbital Debris, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
17 FCC Red 5586, 5592—93, paras. 14—15 (2002) (citing the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, as amended, 49 U.S.C. §
70101 et seq., and the FAA‘s implementing regulations, codified at 14 CFR Ch. IIH, § 400 et seq.); see also Mitigation of
Orbital Debris, Second Report and Order, 19 FCC Red 11567, 11611, para. 105 (2004) (noting the Commission‘s prior
observation that "matters addressed under the Commercial Space Launch Act and its implementing regulations are most
appropriately addressed by the FAA").
? Comprehensive Review ofLicensing and Operating Rulesfor Satellite Services, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 29
FCC Red 12116, 12155, para. 133 (2014).
8 ORBCOMM License Corp., Informal Comments at 1 (filed May 11, 2016) (on file in IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—
00060) (ORBCOMM Informal Comments).
* Id. at 2.
 Id. at 3—4.

4 T4. at 2.
2 See Letter from Tony Lin, Counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at 1, Exhs. A, B (filed
July 26, 2016).

                                                           Page 2 of 5


                                            ATTACHMENT TO GRANT
                                                 Spaceflight Inc.
                                        IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060

         on Spire and Planet performing certain actions in the event they receive a conjunction warning from the
         Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) or other source."" These actions should assist ORBCOMM in
         reducing the number of collision avoidance maneuvers to an acceptable level. With respect to the
         concern with collisions among the spacecraft in the SHERPA mission, the analysis provided by Planet
         Labs concluded that the risk of in—plane collisions over a two year period for any pair of objects is 7.8 x
         107.‘ In an ex parte letter filed on August 9, 2016, ORBCOMM argued that since there were 4,095
         possible pairs of objects, the aggregate probability of in—plane collision would be 3.18 x 10%°." However,
         of the satellites deployed from SHERPA, 56 will be operated by Planet Labs, which has stated that it will
         execute differential drag maneuvers to space its satellites. ‘° For purposes of analyzing collision risk, this
         action will effectively reduce the collision risk among Planet Labs®‘ 56 satellite to zero. Another eight of
         the satellites planned for deployment will be operated by Spire, Inc., which has stated that its satellites
         can perform collision—avoidance maneuvers using differential drag and an on—board attitude determination
         and control system."" Four other satellites are equipped with propulsion."®
                  b. We conclude therefore that although the collision risk as calculated by ORBCOMM correctly
         assesses risk based on multiple collision pairs, the figure derived by ORBCOMM overstates the actual
         risk because collisions involving any of these 68 objects will either be avoided entirely, or will be less
         likely than assumed in the Planet Labs® analysis. In order to derive a more realistic estimate of the
         aggregate probability of collision, we consider two different scenarios. In scenario 1, we assume that the
         68 objects identified above do not collide among themselves. In scenario 2, we assume in addition that
         these 68 objects also do not collide with any of the other 23 objects. This allows us to conclude that,
         starting from the probability of collision for any pair of objects, as estimated by Planet Labs (7.8 x 107),
         the aggregate probability of collision is bourided by 0.2 x 10° (scenario 2) and 1.4 x 10° (scenario 1).
                 c. This range does not include collision risk with respect to the "background" large object debris
         population. Exhibit A, Appendix B of the ex parte filing submitted by Planet Labs on July 26, 2016
         contains such an analysis, prepared using NASA‘s Debris Assessment Software (DAS), for the entire
         SHERPA mission."" Adding up the probabilities of collision calculated by Planet Labs for the 91 objects
         (ninety satellites plus SHERPA), we arrive at an aggregate probability of collision with the background of
         0.34 x 10°. Therefore, we estimate the overall probability of collision for the entire SHERPA mission to
         be bounded by 0.54 x 10° and 1.7 x 107. The Planet Labs analysis also included an estimate of the


} See Planet Labs Inc., IBFS File No. SAT—MOD—20150802—00053 (granted Sept. 15, 2016); Spire Global, Inc., IBFS File
No. SAT—LOA—20151123—00078 (grant—in—part and defer—in—part Oct. 14, 2016).
4 Letter from Tony Lin, Counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at 3 (filed July 26, 2016).

5 Letter from Walter H. Sonnenfeldt, Regulatory Counsel, ORBCOMM License Corp. & Vice President, Regulatory Affairs,
ORBCOMM Inc. to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at 4, n.7 (filed Aug. 9, 2016) (filed as "Response to 7/26/16 Planet
Labs Letter").
§ Letter from Tony Lin, Counsel, Planet Labs, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, at 1 (filed Aug. 24, 2016).
 Application of Spire Global, Inc., File No, SAT—LOA—20151123—00078, Exhibit A at 5—6 (Nov. 23, 2015).
© See OET Experimental File No. 0586—EX—PL—2015, Exhibits, Revised ODAR v.3.1 at 8—10 (granted Jan. 27, 2016)
(describing propulsion system on the two identical Aerocube—7 spacecraft); OET Experimental File No. 0829—EX—PL—2014
Exhibits, Orbital Debris Assessment at 8 (granted Dec. 28, 2015) (describing propulsion system on the BlackSky Global
Pathfinder satellites, including the Pathfinder—2 spacecraft) grant later modified in other respects by OET Experimental File
No. 0053—EX—ML—2016 (granted April 11, 2016); Su—A Song, Yeona Yoo, Soyeon Koo, Seungkeun Kim, and Jinyoung Suk,
System Design and Dynamic Analysisfor Sail Deploymentfor Cube Satellite CNUSAIL—1, 54th AIAA Aerospace Sciences
Meeting, AIAA SciTech (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10,2514/6.2016—0964 (describing planned solar sail propulsion for
Chungnam University‘s CNUSAIL—1 spacecraft).
" Letter from Tony Lin, Counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, Exh A. at 10—59 (filed July
26, 2016).

                                                        Page 3 of 5


                                             ATTACHMENT TO GRANT
                                                 Spaceflight Inc.
                                         IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060

            probability of collision of any of the 91 objects in the SHERPA mission and any of the ORBCOMM
            satellites."" This calculation is relevant in assessing the burden that will be imposed on ORBCOMM as a
            result of maneuvers required to avoid collisions. However, we have not included it in our estimate of the
            overall probability of collision because such collisions will be avoided.
     5.      Spaceflight must take all steps within its control to ensure that it and the launch provider, SpaceX, abort
            the separation of the SHERPA deployer from the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle in the event that a
            SpaceX Formosat—5 launch mission anomaly precludes lowering the Falcon 9 second stage from the
            Formosat—5 720 km circular release orbit to the specified 450 x720 km SHERPA release orbit.
     6.     Spaceflight must ensure that SHERPA will be deployed from the launch vehicle and will operate during
            times such that SHERPA radio—frequency operations will not interfere with Meteorological Satellite
            operations. For any SHERPA operations prior to November 30, 2016, NOAA has conducted an analysis,
            which was provided toSpaceflight on October 24, 2016. For any SHERPA operations scheduled for after
          _ November 30, 2016, Spaceflight must provide notification to the following point of contact at the earliest
            possible date prior to launch, so that additional orbit analysis can be accomplished.
                    Richard Kelley
                    Alion Science and Technology for U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA/NESDIS
                    NOAA Satellite Operations Facility
                    Suitland, MD
                    phone 01.301.817.4636
                    rkelley@alionscience.com richard.kelley@noaa.gov

     7.      Prior to the start of operations, Spaceflight must contact the Air Force Spectrum Management Office and
            supply a stop buzzer point of contact (POC). This POC must be available any time testing is being
            performed.
                    Air Force Spectrum Management Office
                    6910 Cooper Ave
                    Ft George G. Meade, Maryland

                    Jennifer Corzo
                    Phone: 301—225—3719
                    Jennifer.corzo.2@us.af.mil


     8.      This authorization is limited to operations of the SHERPA spacecraft and does not in any way grant
            authority for operations or express a view concerning the status of any satellite that will be deployed from
            SHERPA.
     9.     Spaceflight shall not integrate any satellite into the SHERPA deployer unless, for any space station on
            such satellite requiring FCC authorization, the operator has either obtained an FCC license for such space
            station, or in the case of an amateur space station, has submitted pre—launch notifications to the FCC, and
            the FCC has confirmed that the space station is considered documented pursuant to Section 97.5(a)(3) of
            the Commission‘s rules, 47 CFR § 97.5(a)(3).
     10. SHERPA must not deploy any satellites in the event that a SpaceX Formosat—5 launch mission anomaly
         precludes lowering the Falcon 9 second stage from the Formosat—5 720 km circular release orbit to the
         specified 450 x 720 km SHERPA release orbit.
     11. Operations of the SHERPA spacecraft must begin no later than 15 days following launch of the
         spacecraft. Upon commencement of operations, Spaceflight must file a notification within one (1) day

* See id. at 3.
                                                        Page 4 of 5


                                        ATTACHMENT TO GRANT
                                             Spaceflight Inc.
                                    IBFS File No. SAT—STA—20150821—00060

        certifying to the Commission that the space station has been successfully placed in orbit and its
        operations fully conform to the terms and conditions ofthis authorization.


Licensee/grantes is afforded thirty (30) days from the date of release of this action to decline the grant as
conditioned. Failure to respond within this period will constitute formal acceptance of the grant as conditioned.

This action is taken pursuant to Section 0.261 of the Commission‘s rules on delegated authority, 47 CFR § 0.261,
and is effective upon release.

Station licenses are subject to the conditions specified in Section 309(h) of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended, 47 U.S.C. § 309(h).
Action Date: October 25, 2016
Term Dates     From: see conditions                              | To: see conditions
Approved:      /c%/gM%

               Stephen J/ Duall
               Chief, Satellite Policy Branch


                                                                *
             +k SET Asipe/rEvyEeRED 10 renopme smtus on /23 NGF




                                                   Page 5 of 5


2. Contact


             Name:         Jonathan L. Wiener                   Phone Number:                        202—429—4900
             Company:      Goldberg Godles Wiener & Wright Fax Number:                               202—429—4912
                           LLP
             Street:        1229 19th Street, NW                E—Mail:                              jwiener@g2w2.com


             City:         Washington                           State:                                DC
             Country:       USA                                 Zipcode: .                           20036      —2413
             Attention:                                         Relationship:                        Legal Counsel


   (If your application is related to an application filed with the Commission, enter either the file number or the IB Submission ID of therelated
application. Please enter only one.)                     ~
   3. Reference File Number or Submission ID

  4a. Is a fee submitted with this application?
& IfYes, complete and attach FCC Form 159.         If No, indicate reason for fee exemption (see 47 C.F.R.Section 1.1114).
C» Governmental Entity       C Noncommercial educational licensee
C Other(please explain):

4b. Fee Classification    CXW — Space Station (Non—Geostationary)
5. Type Request

g3 Change Station Location                         {74y Extend Expiration Date                      @, Other


6. Temporary Orbit Location _                                             7. Requested Extended Expiration Date


8. Description   (If the complete description does not appear in this box, please go to the end of the form to view it in its entirety.)
     Spaceflight Inc., pursuant to Section 25.120 of the Commission‘s Rules, hereby requests
     Special Temporary Authority to permit it to communicate with a spacecraft, known as
     SHERPA, and corresponding earth stations for a duration of up to twelve                                           (12)   hours to take
     place in a single occurrence between January 15,                             2016 and April 15, 2016.




9. By checking Yes, the undersigned certifies that neither applicant nor any other party to the application is subject     @ Yes           £4 No
to a denial of Federal benefits that includes FCC benefits pursuant to Section 5301of the Anti—Drug Act of 1988,
21 U.S.C. Section $62, because of a conviction for possession or distribution of a controlled substance. See 47 CFR
1.2002(b) for the meaning of "party to the application" for these purposes.


10. Name of Person Signing                                                  11. Title of Person Signing
Indra Hornsby                                                               General Counsel

12. Please supply any need attachments.
 Attachment 1: Request for STA                     Attachment 2: ODAR                                 Attachment 3:


          WILLFUL FALSE STATEMENTS MADE ON THIS FORM ARE PUNISHABLE BY FINE AND / OR IMPRISONMENT
                 (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001), AND/OR REVOCATION OF ANY STATION AUTHORIZATION
                  (U.S. Code, Title 47, Section 312(a)(1)), AND/OR FORFEITURE (U.S. Code, Title 47, Section 503).


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THE FOREGOING NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995, PUBLIC LAW 104—13, OCTOBER
1, 1995, 44 U.S.C. SECTION 3507.


                  REQUESTS FOR SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY

        Spaceflight Inc. ("Spaceflight"), pursuant to Section 25.120 of the Commission‘s
Rules, hereby requests Special Temporary Authority ("STA") to permit it to
communicate with a spacecraft, known as SHERPA, and corresponding earth stations
for a duration of up to twelve (12) hours to take place in a single occurrence between
January 15, 2016 and April 15, 2016.1

        As described in greater detail in the attached Technical Annex, SHERPA is a non—
propulsive, free—flying spacecraft intended to deploy auxiliary spacecraft from each of
five ports. SHERPA itself is proposed to be affixed to the payload on a Falcon 9 launch
that is currently scheduled to occur within above—stated launch period. SHERPA will
be placed in a sun synchronous elliptical orbit of 720 x 450 km, 97.4 degree inclination.
After its deployment from the launch vehicle, SHERPA will initiate a sequence of
procedures to begin the deployment of its own payload and the communication that is
the subject of the instant requests will commence.

        Spaceflight seeks authority to permit it to establish communications between
SHERPA and three earth stations during the twelve—hour operational of the SHERPA
payload.2 The communications links, which will consist of two—way data transmissions,
will permit the Spaceflight technical crew to track the launch and download status
information from SHERPA. The proposed frequencies for communication to and from
SHERPA are UHF frequencies authorized under the FCC‘s Table of Frequency
Allocations for space operations.

      The payload of SHERPA will consist of small spacecraft that are owned and to be
operated by Spaceflight‘s customers. Each customer is expressly required under its
agreement with Spaceflight to obtain all licenses, authorization, clearances, and permits
that may be necessary to operate its individual spacecraft.

      Spaceflight asserts that grant of the instant requests for Special Temporary
Authority will be in the public interest. Such grant will permit Spaceflight to initiate a
new and innovative deployment technology for small spacecraft, thereby providing a
cost—efficient means for placing them into their designed orbits.


1 Recent developments in the spacecraft launch industry have resulted in a number of launch delays and
uncertainties as to when future launches will occur. The timeframe set forth above reflects the current
launch period assigned for the Spaceflight launch. Spaceflight has not yet been assigned an exact date of
the SHERPA launch. Accordingly, Spaceflight is herein seeking STA to cover a period of three (3)
months. However, as described herein, the actual communications for which STA is sought will occur
over a period of only twelve (12) hours. Spaceflight will notify the Commission as its launch period is
narrowed to a particular day as soon as that information is confirmed to it by the launch provider.
2 Spaceflight is submitting concurrently unique applications for space station STA to cover the
communications of SHERPA and earth station STA to cover the ground station locations.


        Technical Annex: Spaceflight SHERPA Spacecraft Description
The Spaceflight SHERPA spacecraft is a non—propulsive, free—flying spacecraft intended to deploy
auxiliary spacecraft from each of five ports, The spacecraft is primarily composed of commercial off the
shelf (COTS) hardware, with the core structure being a custom ESPA Grande ring. Auxiliary satellites are
integrated to each port using simple plates and separated using proven separation systems, such as the
Planetary Systems Corporation (PSC) Motorized Lightband (MLB) and the Innovative Solutions in Space
{IS!S) QuadPack. The configuration, shown in Figure 1, is
intended to deploy three microsatellites using MLBs as well
as several CubeSats and nanosatellites from twenty—one
(21) QuadPack dispensers. Each QuadPack holds 12U worth
of CubeSat payload. A CubeSat, based on the Cal Poly
CubeSat standard, has nominal dimensions 10 x 10 x 10 cm.
SHERPA runs flight software on COTS Andrews Space
CORTEX avionics and it is equipped with its own power and
power distribution system to deploy each auxiliary
spacecraft in a pre—programmed sequence. The primary
mission is satisfied by successful deptoyment of each
auxiliary payload. The confirmation of successful payload
deployment is given by the transmission of telemetry
containing SHERPA state vectors taken upon each discrete
deployment event.
The SHERPA mission itself is expected to last approximately
                                                                      Figure 1. SHERPA Spacecraft shown
::’: gfir&a f;;‘;‘;;’;t _I;]h";n;:’s:;R;QI;Z;Zt;zgl;a::ghzzniizzh   integrated with the Payload Attach Fitting
         "            *                  ‘                          {below) and the Primary Payload Adapter
720 km circular sun synchronous orbit and then separated.                           (above}
The upper stage, with SHERPA attached, executes a
maneuver to lower the perigee of the orbit to 450 km and
change the inclination to 97.4 degrees. At this orbit, SHERPA is separated from the upper stage. The
separation event activates the SHERPA spacecraft through the closing of separation switches, which will
turn on for the first time. After initialization, SHERPA begins a pre—programmed sequence of
deployments. No uplink is necessary to begin deployments. For each deployment event time, position,
and velocity (determined via GPS receiver) are logged in the form of a state vector to be transmitted.
Upon completion of deployments, SHERPA transmits the telemetry to a ground station. SHERPA‘s
communication system utilizes an onboard UHF radio with 4 antenna.
SHERPA batteries are expected to last for duration less than 20 hours until they‘re expended. Ultimately,
SHERPA de—orbits through orbital decay due to atmospheric drag approximately 20 years after launch.




 SPAGEFLIGHT


Location                        SHERPA (space segment)       North Pole, Alaska          Tukwila, Washington          NASA Wallops
Link direction                            Downlink           Uplink                      Uplink                       Uplink
                                                             M2 Antenna Systems
Antenna Manufacturer            Spaceflight Systems Inc      Inc                         M2 Antenna Systems Inc MIT Lincoln Labs
Antenna Model                   n/a                          450CP34                     450CP34                      n/a

Antenna Size                    n/a                          3.05—m boom length          13.05—m boom length          18.3—m diameter
Number of Antennas                                                                                                1                                     1
                                Mobile, LEO                  1625 Richardson                                                ,
                                Orbit: 720 x 450 km, 97.4°       |Highway, North Pole,   (3415 S 116th St #123,       [Building U—25, Mainland Road
Address, City, State            inclination                  Alaska                      Tukwila, WA                  Wallops Island, VA 23337
Lat/Long coordinates in                                      64° 47‘ 37.0" N,            47° 29‘ 55.44" N, 122°       {37° 51‘ 18" N
minutes,seconds                 Mobile, LEO                  147° 32‘ 10.8" W            17‘ 23.64" W                 75° 30° 47" W
Site Elevation AMSL             Mobile, LEO                  144 m AMSL                  15.9 m AMSL                  12.6 m AMSL
Frequencies                     401.5 MHz                    450.2 MHz                   450.2 MHz                    450.2 MHz
Output Power (W)                2W                           5W                          5W                           8W
ERP (W)                         2.07 W                       63 W                        63 W                         15,310 W
Frequency tolerance            *                             *                           *                            *
Emissions (bandwidth of signal
plus emission type)            825KG1D                      27K6G1D                      27K6G1D                      27K6G1D
                                                            A single channel             A single channel
                                A single channel containing containing digital           containing digital           A single channel containing digital
Modulating Signal               digital information         information                  information                  information

*in lieu of frequency tolerance, the occupied bandwidth of
the emission shall not extend beyond the band limits set



Document Created: 2016-11-29 14:11:25
Document Modified: 2016-11-29 14:11:25

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