Sherpa-AC

Sherpa-AC 1 [Spaceflight Inc.]

The Sherpa-AC, developed by Spaceflight Inc., is a free flying satellite deployer featuring chemical propulsion.

Sherpa-AC augments the base Sherpa-FX with key capabilities to make it ideal for servicing hosted payloads. In addition to the Sherpa-FX functionality, Sherpa-AC includes a flight computer, attitude knowledge & control, an electrical power system (solar panels, batteries, etc.), and basic 2-way RF communications. In addition to deploying multiple satellites, Sherpa-AC is well-suited for accommodating hosted payloads in LEO for up to a year.

The first mision, Sherpa-AC 1, carries two hosted payloads:

• Xona is launching Huginn, the first of two missions demonstrating the capability of their Pulsar constellation. Pulsar’s revolutionary architecture uses small but powerful satellites in low Earth orbit, more than 20x closer to Earth than GPS, to deliver high-performance navigation and timing services. Pulsar is designed to meet the stringent demands for precision, security, and resilience that are required for modern users such as autonomous vehicles and machine control. Huginn’s mission is to validate the core technology for the Pulsar constellation by transmitting the first precision navigation signals from a LEO spacecraft as well as demonstrating advanced functionality such as on-orbit reprogrammability and modern signal security implementations. This mission marks a huge step towards realizing a new generation of navigation systems.
• TROOP-3 (Train-Rapid on Orbit Payload) will provide 24/7 telemetry plus critical mission data while hosting payloads for experimental testing. As a hosted payload, TROOP will remain attached to the Sherpa OTV for the duration of the vehicle’s life in orbit, which will be around eight years. NearSpace Launch’s goal is to help organizations track and report the location of their spacecraft to fight orbit debris and is planning many more missions with Spaceflight to enable these capabilities for more organizations.