Delays, Budget Issues Derail NASA’s OSAM-1 Program

NASA has scrapped its On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing 1 mission because of delays and cost overruns, as well as rapid developments in orbital technologies.

According to NASA, changes to the costs, schedule and technical requirements, as well as an ongoing development across the space sector, meant that resources could not be dedicated to OSAM-1. The agency added that it was notified by Congress to shut down OSAM-1.

NASA is starting the shutdown process and will dedicate technologies and partnerships intended for OSAM-1 to alternative endeavors. It will also ensure that employees at the Goddard Space Flight Center working on the mission will not be greatly affected, SpaceNews reported.

OSAM-1 was intended to perform space-based life cycle-related tasks for satellites in orbit. It was supposed to refuel the Landsat 7 spacecraft and assemble a Ka-band satellite antenna while in orbit. The spacecraft was already in NASA’s possession in September after Maxar Technologies, the contractor selected to build OSAM-1, delivered it to Goddard.

In February 2022, NASA worked with Maxar to complete the Critical Design Review phase for OSAM-1. They examined the spacecraft’s bus, servicing payload, the Space Infrastructure Dextrous Robot and other components and ground systems.