Publikation
Towards Sustainable Space Ecosystem: A State of the Art Survey on Standardizing Spacecraft Service Interfaces for Modular Orbital Systems
Mehmed Yüksel; Wiebke Brinkmann; Utku Akinci; Raphael Boissonnade; Come Berger; Montserrat Diaz-Carrasco; Ana Luisa Ruiz Perez; Thomas A. Schervan; Christopher Zeis; Pierre Letier; Mathieu Deremetz; Fabien Marty; Matisse Briand
In: IAC 2025 Proceedings. International Astronautical Congress (IAC-2025), 76th International Astronautical Congress, September 29 - October 3, Sydney, AU-NSW, Australia, IAF, 2025.
Zusammenfassung
In space flight new ways are being sought to achieve greater sustainability and produce less space debris. A modular,
maintainable and reconfigurable orbital system will form the basis for enabling sustainable space solutions in the future,
replacing today's disposable and highly integrated space systems. It would also allow for the reuse and recycling of
some satellite system components and reduce future space debris. In-orbit servicing will allow the satellite to add
new features if needed for new missions after deployment, or to replace some modules after failure, extending the
lifetime of the satellite system. Modularity will also enable in-orbit assembly, which will give us a new horizon for
creating new structures for a variety of future use cases, as diverse as linking energy in massive solar arrays or creating
lunar gateways. All these approaches require a standardized multifunctional interconnection, which essentially brings
two sub-modules together for mechanical coupling with electrical connectivity, and transmits energy, forces and data
between them.
Currently, there is no universal standard for Spacecraft Service Interfaces (SSI). The European joint project
“SPACE USB” aims to create a standardization that makes it possible to assemble large and complex structures for
space missions in low orbit by connecting small sub- and module systems. In the first phase of the project, the research
work was aimed at creating a global picture of the existing interconnects and similar objects from European to global
perspective. These include the European off-the-shelves solutions SIROM, HOTDOCK and iSSI®, and others such as
GOLD and ASPIN from the American market or PetLock from China as well as results from research, such as the EMI
and others, up to 105 different solutions from terrestrial and extraterrestrial domain. For this survey, a methodology
has been developed that forms the content of this article to keep it objective and sustainable. A list of more than
70 properties to describe an interconnect was developed as a continuation of the Korcut Interconnect Ontology and
shared with third-party competitors to evaluate the characteristics of the SSI, leading to standardization based on their
common insights.