{"id":236306,"date":"2026-04-05T18:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/236306\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:53:12","slug":"swri-building-space-force-funded-refueling-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/236306\/","title":{"rendered":"SwRI building Space Force-funded refueling satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside a 2,900-square-foot cleanroom at Southwest Research Institute, two workers lean over a table assembling hardware for a satellite with a delicate job: docking with other spacecraft and transferring fuel while both hurtle through space at 7,000 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

SwRI has been tasked with building the satellite \u2014 formally the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R) also known as \u201cProvisioner<\/a>\u201d \u2014 as part of a $25 million project funded by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and led by Colorado-based aerospace company Astroscale U.S.<\/p>\n

SwRI is responsible for building and testing the spacecraft before it\u2019s shipped off for launch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The project fits the Space Force\u2019s push toward \u201cdynamic space operations,\u201d making U.S. satellites, which are limited in mobility by how much fuel they can carry, more maneuverable and better able to avoid threats, according<\/a> to National Defense Magazine.<\/p>\n

Roughly the size of a gas pump, the satellite will sit 22,236 miles above Earth\u2019s equator waiting to bring fuel to compatible spacecraft in the planet\u2019s orbit. Basically the AAA roadside assistance of space, as SwRI research and development manager Scott Sutherland puts it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The goal is to extend the lifespan of spacecraft, which are currently limited by how much fuel they can carry on their missions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SwRI engineers and technicians are building the satellite inside of the nonprofit research institute\u2019s 74,000-square-foot Space Systems Integration Facility, where it will also undergo rigorous testing to prepare it for the harsh environment beyond Earth\u2019s atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Provisioner is one of the most complicated spacecraft the institute has built, said Michael McLelland, SwRI\u2019s vice president of research and development.<\/p>\n

Two dancing bullets<\/p>\n

The satellite\u2019s guts are spread throughout the cleanroom: its black box, which contains the spacecraft\u2019s brain, the solar arrays that power it and all of the complex hardware that will allow it to dock and refuel other spacecraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Engineers and technicians wear white coveralls and hair nets under the bright sterile lights of the cleanroom, a specialized environment that minimizes dust and other contaminants that can interfere with sensitive space instrumentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"SwRI workers assemble hardware for the APS-R satellite. Credit: Ian McKinney \/ SwRI Creative Services<\/p>\n

Once in space, the plan is for the satellite to remain in one spot above Earth\u2019s equator in geostationary orbit, matching the spin of the planet. It will access a separate fuel depot in orbit that contains hydrazine propellant and then rendezvous with compatible spacecraft, carefully docking with them before transferring fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about two bullets trying to do a dance and touch each other,\u201d McLelland said. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to maneuver and hit it where it\u2019s gonna be, not where it\u2019s at. And you can\u2019t crash into it, because people get really mad when you break their spacecraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Alexander, the systems engineer for APS-R, said that the satellite will be assembled and ready to be shipped off for launch in about three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before that, though, it will undergo extensive tests next door in the environmental testing facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Preparing for space<\/p>\n

Satellites orbiting Earth experience a wide range of temperatures, sometimes simultaneously, losing heat to cold deep space and absorbing intense unfiltered sunlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the old days,\u201d McLelland explained, \u201cwe would put [spacecraft] in rotisserie mode and just let it spin to keep it even.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many modern satellites are not designed to rotate like the older ones, requiring extensive measures to ensure heat balance by engineers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To ensure APS-R and other spacecraft are up for the challenge, SwRI places them into its thermal vacuum chamber, which simulates the vacuum of space and can be cranked up to 180 degrees and as low as -150 degrees Fahrenheit, Sutherland said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A room designed to test satellite compatibility with its launch vehicle at Southwest Research Institute\u2019s Space System Integration Facility. Credit: Ian McKinney \/ SwRI Creative Services<\/p>\n

Engineers also place hot and cold plates within the chamber to simulate simultaneous temperature gradients.<\/p>\n

The satellite will also undergo testing to ensure it\u2019s compatible with its launch vehicle, which will carry it out of the planet\u2019s atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Larger spacecraft are also blasted with sound waves in the institute\u2019s acoustic chamber to simulate launch vibrations and noise on the spacecraft\u2019s instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get the next stack of speakers in\u2026 we\u2019ll actually break the world record for the loudest digital sound made,\u201d McLelland said. \u201cIt\u2019s exactly like the launch. It sounds just like being on the pad. You can feel it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"An acoustic test room designed to simulate sound vibrations during launch at Southwest Research Institute\u2019s Space System Integration Facility. Credit: Ian McKinney \/ SwRI Creative Services<\/p>\n

SwRI \u2014 a nonprofit research institute founded by San Antonio philanthropist Tom Slick<\/a> in 1947 \u2014 plays a specialized role in the aerospace industry, often putting its weight behind a smaller number of unique missions and hard challenges for government and commercial clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big industry is all too expensive,\u201d Sutherland said. \u201cSwRI\u2019s really good at those hard, challenging projects. We won\u2019t mass produce 50, 60, 70, spacecraft in a line production \u2014 our engineers and scientists really enjoy the challenge of different mission sets every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside a 2,900-square-foot cleanroom at Southwest Research Institute, two workers lean over a table assembling hardware for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17553,91029,91030,65934,91031,82,84,83,91032,2422,59451,92,3028,36648,94],"class_list":{"0":"post-236306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-aerospace-industry","9":"tag-aps-r","10":"tag-astroscale-u-s","11":"tag-joseph-alexander","12":"tag-michael-mclelland","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","15":"tag-san-antonio-news","16":"tag-scott-sutherland","17":"tag-southwest-research-institute","18":"tag-swri","19":"tag-top-story","20":"tag-typedaily","21":"tag-u-s-space-force","22":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}