Approach for on-orbit maintenance and experiment plan using 150kg-class satellites

With the maturation of space technology, there is an increasing focus on the maintenance of space craft and the space environment. NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) has proposed an Orbital Maintenance System (OMS), which is a rescue-and-removal satellite-servicing system for telecommunications satellites, and has conducted research on related technologies. One of the biggest challenges in on-orbit maintenance is the development of autonomous rendezvous technologies. The rescue satellite must be able to approach the target satellite before it falls out of orbit. Meanwhile NICT and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have been planning a unique small-satellite mission called SmartSat-1. Using SmartSat-1, NICT and MHI are planning to carry out experiments on autonomous rendezvous technologies for the OMS. In this paper, we describe the next demonstration mission for the orbital maintenance system, which will utilize the 150-kg class twin-sat, SmartSat-1.