Quark-Alpha
Atomos Space
ESPA-Grande class solar-electric Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) for relocation, life extension, orbit raising and payload delivery from LEO through cislunar space.
Technical specifications
- Bus class
- ESPA-Grande
- Launch options
- Secondary payload or dedicated small launch
- Total delta-V
- Up to 12 km/s
- Delta-V for 2,000 kg payload
- Up to 3 km/s
- Maneuver duration
- As little as 2 months
- Thrust
- 1 N
- Propulsion
- Krypton-based solar electric propulsion
- Power system
- 20 kW deployable solar arrays with solar array drive assemblies (SADAs)
- Rendezvous approach range
- >100 km to capture
- Rendezvous method
- Autonomous, fiducial-free, sensor fusion and machine vision, 6DOF control, continuous abort capability
- Capture system
- "Split Stewart Platform" robotics for unprepared client spacecraft
- Reusability
- Refuelable and reusable
- Variants
- Quark-Beta (refuelable), Quark-Gamma (high-thrust), Quark-Delta (deep space)
About
Quark-Alpha is Atomos Space’s workhorse Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), combining solar electric propulsion with autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) and novel robotics to provide relocation, life-extension, orbit-raising and payload-delivery missions from low Earth orbit through cislunar space.
The vehicle is built on an ESPA-Grande class bus that can be launched either as a secondary payload or on a dedicated small launch vehicle. It is powered by an upgraded power system with lightweight 20kW deployable solar arrays and solar array drive assemblies (SADAs), driving krypton-based electric propulsion capable of delivering up to 12 km/s of total delta-V, including up to 3 km/s for a 2,000kg client payload, with maneuvers completed in as little as two months using approximately 1N of thrust.
For rendezvous and capture, Quark-Alpha uses advanced sensors, sensor fusion and machine vision to perform autonomous, fiducial-free rendezvous with six-degree-of-freedom control and continuous abort capability, approaching from beyond 100km to capture in any orbit. Capture and control of unprepared client spacecraft is performed using Atomos’ proprietary “Split Stewart Platform” robotics, designed to be able to capture and control the vast majority of active spacecraft on orbit. The vehicle is designed to be refuelable and reusable, supporting repeated servicing missions over its operational life.
Atomos also offers variants of the Quark platform for specialized mission profiles: Quark-Beta, which adds refueling interfaces to refuel prepared client spacecraft; Quark-Gamma, a high-thrust variant for tactically responsive space missions; and Quark-Delta, a deep-space variant. All Quark vehicles are built and tested at Atomos’ 20,000 sq ft Broomfield, Colorado facility and validated on the ground using “The Void,” a purpose-built RPO test facility with a 50x20ft low-friction, motion-capture-monitored floor and air-bearing-mounted, flight-representative vehicle twins.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.
