STRV Introduction

Introduction

       The Space Technology Research Vehicles (STRV 1A and 1B) were designed with the principal aim of providing the technology community with affordable access to earth orbit to allow an in-orbit evaluation of new technologies. The spacecraft were designed, built, and tested at the UK Defence Research Agency (DRA) at Farnborough (with assistance as required from subcontractors) and were operated (1994-1996) from a ground station facility at DRA Lasham in Southern England. The short duration time scale of the project (from design phase to operations in 3 years) has guaranteed the return of experimental data in a meaningful time frame.

       The STRV 1A and 1B satellites are almost entirely experimental, with the majority of the platform systems incorporating new features or techniques. Despite of a maximum mass of 55 kg each, a total of fourteen different experiments are incorporated in the design of the two vehicles. The majority of the technologies flown are associated with ongoing research programmes within the Space Deparment of the DRA. These programmes are both intramural and in conjuction with UK industries and universities. In addition, there is a major international collaborative aspect to the project. The Ballistic Missile Defence Organization (BMDO) Materials and Structures Programme has sponsored four experiments that were built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and are flown aboard the STRV-1B. The BMDO also negotiated antennas to supplement the DRA ground station. The European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC) also submitted experiments and solar panels for STRV 1A and have provided the programme with design effort and radiation facility time. The United States Air Force Phillips Laboratory, Albuquerque, has provided solar panels on STRV 1B, together with experimental cells as part of one of the experiments.

       The limitation on mass is a consequence of the choice of launch: the Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads (ASAP). Although this structure has now flown several times into low earth, polar orbit, the STRV 1A/1B launch on 17th June 1994 was the first occasion that the Ariane-4 has launched auxiliary payloads into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

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