Standardized Spacecraft Bus: The Accommodating Bus™

General Dynamics’ concept of standard, modular spacecraft buses made its debut in 1990 via our contract with DARPA for the Advanced Satellite Subsystem Technology Demonstration (ASSTD).   Three standard, modular bus core-designs have evolved from our subsequent spacecraft developments (pictured left) and their highly successful missions.  Our standard bus models include the SA-200B, SA-200S, and SA-200HP, and all are featured in the NASA Goddard RSDO Catalog.  For each new contract/application, we select the flight-proven core-design best matched for the specific mission, then scale, adapt, and optimize the design accordingly.  This modularization and design re-use concept has resulted in shorter schedule times and reduced risk.  The ability of our standard buses to accommodate a wide range of payloads and mission scenarios prompted us to call our SA-200 Series the Accommodating Bus™.