Lower payload costs through refurbishment and module replacement.

Abstract

Payload benefits to be derived from refurbishment can be related to individual spacecraft programs directly and for planning purposes to the entire shuttle mission model. In the case of the large space telescope program, cost savings obtained through the use of the shuttle for maintenance operations have been estimated to be in the range from 30 to 40%. This saving is realized over an operational lifetime of 15 years by reducing, through refurbishment on orbit, the number of flight units along with 'optimized' reliability goals commensurate with periodic maintenance revisits at one-year intervals. Shuttle-era payload implications are discussed together with a pressurized on-orbit maintenance configuration, an earth observation satellite, and some typical teleoperator-serviced spacecraft.