LEO to MEO / GEO Transfers
At full thrust of 3,307 lbf and vacuum Isp of 374 sec, our cryogenic Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) can deliver a high total impulse, which can be applied to perform a variety of Rapid Space Maneuvers. The RPS OTV will deliver rapid orbit transfers from Low Earth Orbit (LEO, ~300 km) to other destinations in LEO, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) or Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)
Up until now, access to higher orbits such as Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) has been restricted due to high cost and lenghthy wait times. Expensive costs arise because those missions are typically executed by a 2nd stage on Launch Vehicles (LV) that are designed to lift payloads to LEO but not higher. The high cost of MEO/GEO missions is also due to stricter mission requirements driven by the need to carry more propellant on board, tighter ascent trajectory margins, etc.
Lengthy wait times arise from the need to allocate a special MEO/GEO mission slot within the long manifest (a queue) of existing typical missions to LEO. RPS solves this problem by offering an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) that could be launched on existing LV’s as a payload to LEO, within their typical LEO mission requirements, trajectory profiles and manifest queue. Once delivered to LEO, this OTV would execute its mission to MEO or GEO, thereby effectively and seamlessly extending the mission range and reach of existing Earth-to-LEO launch vehicles.
