EELV Secondary Payload Adapter

For example, multiple ESPA rings were used on a non-DoD launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 that carried the Orbcomm OG-2 constellation of communication satellites.

[1] Additional studies have been done on ESPA applications for lunar and science missions under an SBIR from NASA Ames Research Center.

[13] When NASA upgraded its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission's launch vehicle to an Atlas V, it freed around 2,200 lbs.

The winning proposal included Moog CSA Engineering's ESPA ring serving as the base mechanical satellite bus to launch the LCROSS spacecraft as a secondary payload under the LRO.

[1] The LCROSS Lunar-impact water detection mission in 2009 took advantage of the structural capabilities of ESPA ring to attach all six of its science experiments, command and control systems, communications equipment, batteries, solar panels, and even a small monopropellant propulsion system to implement pre-impact payload separation and control.

[15] The LDPE (Long Duration Propulsive ESPA) is based on a Northrop Grumman payload adapter used to help attach the upper stage to the main satellite in addition to hosting a few slots for other smallsats.

It carried the Ascent cubesat from the Air Force Research Laboratory that was used to test commercial off-the-shelf technologies in geosynchronous orbit, including cold gas thrusters, electric propulsion, and a global position receiver.

The separable payloads included Alpine, a cubesat from Millennium Space Systems to demonstrate GEO small satellite designs and leverage commercial GEO communications; LINUSS, a Lockheed Martin project consisting of two 12U cubesats to test GEO satellite servicing; and Tetra-1, an SSC small satellite designed as a pathfinder for innovative methods of space vehicle design and on-orbit Tactics Techniques and Procedures development.

The hosted payloads included: Mustang, a small sized communications experiment; Xenon, a commercial off-the-shelf component maturation for flight at GEO; and Energetic Charged Particle-Lite, an SSC space weather sensor.