Upperstage extensibility for testbed applications

By leveraging off the flight experience and capabilities of the Atlas and Delta family of vehicles, the opportunity exist to provide lower cost space based testing of avionics systems.¹² The author explores options for extending the capabilities of existing expendable launch vehicles to provide flight based testing of avionics systems for future space flight systems. By providing extended vehicle life, the possibility to evolve and mature proximity and control systems is discussed. The paper describes various options for lifetime extension as well as a number of options for extensible test bed configurations, which could allow more rapid determination of integrated system performance and behaviors.