ESPAStar Satellite Bus Product Line (SLV, LT, EP, HP, D)
Modular, ESPA-ring-based satellite bus product line with five variants (D, HP, SLV, LT, EP) spanning LEO tug, small-launch, electric-propulsion, and high-power operational GEO missions.
Technical specifications
- ESPAStar-D Dry Mass
- 430-470 kg
- ESPAStar-D Dimensions
- 157.5 cm dia x 61 cm ht
- ESPAStar-D Delta-V
- 400-800 m/sec
- ESPAStar-D Payload Mass
- >1,920 kg
- ESPAStar-HP Dry Mass
- <900 kg
- ESPAStar-HP Fuel Capacity
- 558 kg
- ESPAStar-HP Mission Duration
- 5-7 years
- ESPAStar-HP Payload Power
- 3 kW base, up to 4 kW
- ESPAStar-SLV Payload Mass
- 600 kg
- ESPAStar-SLV Delta-V
- 235 m/sec
- ESPAStar-LT Payload Power
- >25 W (EOL), 1-2 panel trickle charge
- ESPAStar-EP Delta-V
- 2,000 m/sec
- ESPAStar-EP Solar Array Power
- 6.8 kW BOL (UltraFlex-M)
- Pointing Control (D/HP/EP)
- <50 μrad (1σ)
- Payload Ports
- Up to 6 hosted or 12 separable payloads
About
Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar platform uses a customized EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring as its structural backbone and is compatible with any EELV-standard launch vehicle. The flight-proven baseline ESPAStar-D accommodates up to six hosted or separable payloads (over 1,920 kg total, >320 kg per port), has a dry mass of 430-470 kg, is 157.5 cm diameter x 61 cm height, and provides >=400 m/s delta-V for one-to-three-year GEO/GTO/MEO/LEO missions.
The product line has grown to five variants: ESPAStar-D (baseline propulsive ESPA platform derived from the AFRL EAGLE design, 6 payload ports, 1-3 year missions), ESPAStar-HP (High Power – fully redundant avionics, 12 payload ports, >5 year missions, dry mass <900 kg, fuel capacity 558 kg, 3-4 kW payload power), ESPAStar-SLV (Small Launch Vehicle – low-cost constellation variant compatible with the Minotaur IV, 600 kg payload mass, 1-3 year missions), ESPAStar-LT (LEO Tug – fixed single-panel solar array, reduced-cost avionics, ~1 year missions), and ESPAStar-EP (Electric Propulsion – based on ESPAStar-HP with a medium-power electric propulsion module using 6.8 kW UltraFlex-M arrays for 2,000 m/s delta-V LEO/MTO-to-GEO orbit raising, >5 year missions). Flight heritage includes EAGLE (2018), LDPE-1 (2021), and ESPAStar-1 (2022).
Documentation
- ESPAStar-Product-Line-Datasheet.pdf PDF source: cdn.northropgrumman.com ↗
- ESPAStar-D-Datasheet.pdf PDF source: www.northropgrumman.com ↗
- ESPAStar-HP-datasheet.pdf PDF source: cdn.northropgrumman.com ↗
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