European Space Agency Signs Contract with ClearSpace to Advance Phoenix Satellite Life Extension Project

en.Wedoany.com Reported - ClearSpace announced the signing of a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch the next phase of development for the Phoenix geostationary orbit satellite life extension project. The contract was actually signed on September 22, and the project will continue to advance the maturation of mission architecture, rendezvous and docking, close-proximity operations, and in-orbit servicing technologies, targeting future commercial life extension services for geostationary orbit satellites.

The Phoenix program plans to develop an in-orbit servicing spacecraft capable of autonomously rendezvousing with and mechanically docking to operational geostationary orbit satellites. Once connected, the servicing spacecraft can provide the target satellite with additional propulsion and attitude control capabilities, undertaking operations such as station-keeping and repositioning, and supporting end-of-life disposal of the satellite. The docking system for this solution is designed for satellites already in orbit and does not require customer satellites to be pre-equipped with a dedicated life extension interface during their initial development phase.

ClearSpace disclosed that the overall Phoenix development program is currently estimated at approximately 100 million euros. This new contract belongs to a subsequent development phase of the program, with funding from the Industrial Competitiveness project under the European Space Agency's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) framework, along with contributions from ClearSpace and European industrial partners.

The project's industrial consortium is led by ClearSpace Luxembourg, with participation from France's Exotrail, and planned technical contributions from Portugal's Critical Software and the Netherlands' Spherical Systems. The current phase of development will build on previous system definition and requirements work, continuing to refine the non-intrusive docking interface as well as the rendezvous, approach, and servicing systems, so that the individual technologies gradually reach a maturity level that can be collaboratively verified in representative operational environments.

Phoenix has previously received support from the Luxembourg government and the Luxembourg Space Agency, and completed early concept and docking system foundational development through the LuxIMPULSE program. With this new contract signed with ESA, the project enters its next development phase under a European-level cooperation framework, with subsequent focus remaining on mission architecture and maturation of core rendezvous and docking technologies; ESA and ClearSpace have not yet disclosed in this announcement the timing of the first commercial service or the first customer satellite.