Firm:

          

Trans Astronautica Corporation (TransAstra)

          

   

Address:

          

13539 Desmond Street, Los Angeles, CA 91331

          

   

Phone:

          

(818) 422-0514                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Name:

          

Dr. Joel Sercel

          

   

E-mail:

          

joel@transastra.com

          

   

Address:

          

13539 Desmond Street, Los Angeles, CA 91331

          

   

Phone:

          

(818) 422-0514                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Name:

          

Mr. Alex Pilmer

          

   

E-mail:

          

alexp@transastra.com

          

   

Address:

          

13539 Desmond Street, Los Angeles, CA 91331

          

   

Phone:

          

(626) 533-7233                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :                                                                                                                                                          
Begin: 2
End: 3

          

          

     

Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words):

The exponential growth of the number of satellites and debris in orbit drives an urgent need for orbital debris removal for both the public and the private sector. TransAstra is developing a breakthrough inflatable capture bag technology, the Mini Bee™ Capture Bag (MBCB), which provides a solution to the Active Debris Removal problem. MBCB will enable object capture and deorbit missions with lower complexity and cost than any alternative and fills the commercial need of protecting the burgeoning space economy from the rapid proliferation of dangerous orbital debris. MBCB is superior because it can capture non-cooperative spacecraft or debris of arbitrary shape without hardware accommodations such magnetic components or grapple fixtures. For these reasons, satellite manufacturers and constellation developers are turning to TransAstra’s MBCB as a solution. TransAstra has begun collaboration on the MBCB with various private companies based on its potential to solve the orbital debris problem for multiple types of objects. MBCB’s flexibility makes it widely applicable to a broad range of debris removal and hazardous objects capture scenarios. Initially suitable for flight on a ride-share class, in-space logistics vehicle launched into LEO, the MCBC system provides a deployable inflatable capture bag that is capable of fully enclosing small spacecraft for repositioning and de-orbiting. MBCB technology can later scale to much larger sizes and can thus serve growing commercial and defense needs with no technical changes to the architecture. This SBIR proposal matures the inflatable capture bag and proximity operations technology of MBCB.

          

          

     

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

Active debris removal for large debris - greater than 10 cm in diameter

          

          

     

Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

End of life disposal for satellites larger than 10cm in diameter

          

          

     

Duration:     6