NASA has terminated a costly project aiming to showcase satellite servicing technologies. The project had been bogged down by considerable delays and budget overruns.
The On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) 1 project involved efforts to refuel the Landsat 7 spacecraft and conduct the in-orbit assembly of a Ka-band satellite antenna. However, on March 1, NASA announced its cancellation, citing continuous technical difficulties, escalating costs, scheduling issues, and a shift in broader community’s focus away from refueling unprepared spacecraft.
Following formal notifications to Congress, NASA plans to initiate an orderly shutdown. This process involves transferring hardware and exploring potential partnerships or alternative hardware applications. The agency has assured a thorough review to lessen the adverse impacts on the workforce at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where OSAM-1 was being spearheaded. Approximately 450 NASA staff and contractors have been engaged in the development of OSAM-1.
Originally conceived as Restore-L about ten years ago, the project’s goal was to launch as soon as 2020 to refuel Landsat 7. In 2020, the mission was renamed OSAM-1 and expanded to include in-space assembly and manufacturing activities.
However, the mission encountered severe cost blowouts and delays. Originally estimated to cost between $626 million and $753 million, the mission’s total cost had ballooned to $2.05 billion with the projected launch being delayed until December 2026. NASA’s Office of Inspector General, in an October 2023 report, suggested further overruns were likely.
The report identified Maxar’s performance as a core problem. Maxar was responsible for providing both the spacecraft bus and the robotics payload, under contracts worth nearly $316 million. Significant underestimations led to setbacks in delivery; the OSAM-1 bus was delivered in September 2023, two and a half years behind schedule.
While Maxar did manage to deliver one of SPIDER’s three robotic arms to NASA, the rest of the arms are expected to be delivered later this year. Despite the project’s discontinuation, Maxar stated its commitment to support NASA in potential partnerships or alternative hardware uses.
Intriguingly, lack of funds wasn’t an issue for OSAM-1. Congressional funding regularly exceeded NASA’s requests. However, the cancellation of OSAM-1 has illustrated the difficulty in developing a spacecraft designed for refueling unprepared spacecraft, a task described as “really hard.”
OSAM-1’s termination comes as numerous companies are commercially pursuing satellite servicing technologies. Efforts include developing satellites with refueling ports to simplify the process. Despite the project’s challenges, the experience gained in satellite servicing and the development of robotic technologies through OSAM-1 carries value for potential future applications.
