Hosted non-deployed payloads on upper stages for enhanced space missions

With the growing market of “hosted payloads” on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous (GEO) satellites, the capability exists to leverage the excess performance on existing upper stages to provide similar or enhanced opportunities for science experiments or low TRL instruments. Leveraging the capabilities of the Atlas V Centaur and Delta IV upper stages, Special Aerospace Services (SAS) and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are investigating hosting non-deployed systems on these existing upper stages.