Antares -Advanced Technologies
Space Vehicle

Comtech AeroAstro’s Antares bus accommodates a wide variety of mission configurations/scenarios in the <460 kg space vehicle (Spacecraft + Payload) mass range. Antares has been designed to maximize payload accommodations by optimizing payload mass (up to 200 kg), payload power (400 watts on-orbit average and 840 watts peak), and payload volume (Minotaur I 61” fairing) at LEO inclinations ranging from 30° - 97° and altitudes from 350-800 km. This versatile space vehicle has been designed to meet the launch requirements of a variety of launch vehicles, including the Minotaur I, Minotaur IV, Falcon 1e, Falcon 9, Atlas V, and Delta IV.

Antares extensively uses standard, open architecture, non-proprietary interfaces—allowing rapid reconfiguration, flexibility, and robustness for accommodating a large range of missions or payload types. The Antares bus architecture features a 100% Space Plug-and-Play Avionics (SPA)-compliant network architecture that permits full Plug-and-Play implementation at the flight software and hardware component level. Antares is 100% SPA-S compatible, enabling 200 Mbps data rates on orbit. Additionally, Antares is designed to be >97% compliant with the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office’s General Bus Specification (GBS), allowing Antares to accommodate a vast array of payloads through standard mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces.

Antares is designed to operate in a variety of LEO and HEO orbits with a full range of altitudes and inclinations. Due to the selection of S-class quality parts and robust structure design, Comtech AeroAstro’s design requires no changes in transitioning from a low radiation LEO environment to a high radiation LEO environment. Antares also features the use of a hinged hexagon structure, enabling efficient internal component access at all program stages while minimizing parts count. While Antares does not baseline propulsion for the “core” mission, propulsion can easily be added for longer mission durations, orbit raise, orbit maneuvering, and attitude control.