Orbital Recovery has started the preliminary design of its ConeXpress ORS space tug, after securing funding. Phase B1, which leads to a preliminary design review, has begun because the firm gained financing from Arianespace, the European Space Agency, the German Space Agency and Germany's Keyser-Threde.
It had been reported that Phase B1 could have begun in January this year, with full-scale development starting in mid-2004 (Flight International, 2-8 December 2003). Production of the tug is now planned to begin in September and the launch is due in 2007. Dutch Space will build the spacecraft, which will be based on the payload adaptor it builds for the Ariane 5.
UK-based Orbital Recovery has yet to secure a launch customer for its orbital "tugboat". It is designed to provide the propulsion, navigation and guidance needed to prolong the service lives of telecommunications satellites in geosynchronous orbits.
The craft will use robotic docking technology developed in co-operation with Germany's Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics.
Source: Flight International
