Opterus Research and Development, Inc. SBIR Phase I Award, December 2019

Opterus Research and Development Inc. (Opterus) strives to improve the capabilities of smallsats by paring high performance scalable deployable composite booms with smallsat buses. Smallsats are typically limited by small apertures, low available power. By leveraging the extensive experience of Opterus’ leadership, high performance scalable deployable composite booms have been developed to high TRL levels. Opterus’ booms enable smallsats through the integration of large apertures on smallsat buses in addition to decreased production cost and lead time while retaining high performance. Opterus’ high strain composite booms are 2x stronger, 8x stiffer, 5x lighter, and 20x more dimensionally stable than alternative state of the art deployable booms and masts. Featuring boom compaction ratios between 100:1 - 200:1, apertures utilizing Opterus’ booms can expand 10x - 1000x in length, area, and volume once in orbit. By incorporating smallsats the Air Force will be able to rapidly develop and launch fully capable space systems at a fraction of the cost of traditional satellites. These systems can be readily applied to missile defense object tracking, ISR and communication missions. As space is becoming increasingly contested it is critical that the United States has an agile, rapidly replenishable and upgradable satellite infrastructure.