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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Lightweight Solar Power for Small Satellites

The innovation targets small satellites or CubeSats for which conventional deployable arrays are not feasible due to their size, weight and complexity. This novel solar cell array includes a thin and flexible photovoltaic cell applied to an inflatable structure to create a high surface area array for collecting solar energy in a lightweight, simple and deployable structure. The inflatable array, with its high functional surface area, eliminates the need and the mechanisms required to point the system toward the sun. The power density achievable in these small arrays is similar to that of conventional high-power deployable/pointable arrays used on large satellites or space vehicles. Although inflatable solar arrays have been previously considered by others, the arrays involved the use of traditional rigid solar cells. Researchers are currently working with thin film photovoltaics from various suppliers so that the NASA innovation is not limited to any particular solar cell technology. NASA has built prototypes and tested functionality before and after inflation. As shown in the current-voltage currents below, deployment does not damage the cell performance.

Nabors, Sammy A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Advanced Deployable Shell-Based Composite Booms for Small Satellite Structural Applications Including Solar Sails

State of the art deployable structures are mainly being designed for medium to large size satellites. The lack of reliable deployable structural systems for low cost, small volume, rideshare-class spacecraft severely constrains the potential for using small satellite platforms for affordable deep space science and exploration precursor missions that could be realized with solar sails. There is thus a need for reliable, lightweight, high packaging efficiency deployable booms that can serve as the supporting structure for a wide range of small satellite systems including solar sails for propulsion. The National Air and Space Administration (NASA) is currently investing in the development of a new class of advanced deployable shell-based composite booms to support future deep space small satellite missions using solar sails. The concepts are being designed to: meet the unique requirements of small satellites, maximize ground testability, permit the use of low-cost manufacturing processes that will benefit scalability, be scalable for use as elements of hierarchical structures (e.g. trusses), allow long duration storage, have high deployment reliability, and have controlled deployment behavior and predictable deployed dynamics. This paper will present the various rollable boom concepts that are being developed for 5-20 m class size deployable structures that include solar sails with the so-called High Strain Composites (HSC) materials. The deployable composite booms to be presented are being developed to expand the portfolio of available rollable booms for small satellites and maximize their length for a given packaged volume. Given that solar sails are a great example of volume and mass optimization, the booms were designed to comply with nominal solar sail system requirements for 6U CubeSats, which are a good compromise between those of smaller form factors (1U, 2U and 3U CubeSats) and larger ones (12 U and 27 U future CubeSats, and ESPA-class microsatellites). Solar sail missions for such composite boom systems are already under consideration and development at NASA, as well as mission studies that will benefit from planned scaled-up versions of the composite boom technologies to be introduced. The paper presents ongoing research and development of thin-shell rollable composite booms designed under the particular stringent and challenging system requirements of relatively large solar sails housed on small satellites. These requirements will be derived and listed. Several new boom concepts are proposed and other existing ones are improved upon using thin-ply composite materials to yield unprecedented compact deployable structures. Some of these booms are shown in Fig. 1. For every boom to be introduced the scalable fabrication process developed to keep the overall boom system cost down will be shown. Finally, the initial results of purposely designed boom structural characterization test methods with gravity off-loading will be presented to compare their structural performance under expected and general load cases.

Fernandez, Juan M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Aerocapture Concepts for Future Interplanetary Missions

The recent developments in small satellite technology has opened the door to a new paradigm of space missions. Traditional large-scale planetary orbiters and atmospheric probes can be potentially augmented with smaller and cheaper small satellite architectures. The recent developments in entry, descent, and landing (EDL) technology associated with deployable aeroshells may allow for small satellite orbit insertion via aerocapture. This paper serves to understand the design trade space for small satellite mission concepts while identifying potential candidate designs for more detailed analysis.

Rohan Deshmukh↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Aerocapture Concepts for Future Interplanetary Missions

The recent developments in small satellite technology has opened the door to a new paradigm of space missions. Traditional large-scale planetary orbiters and atmospheric probes can be potentially augmented with smaller and cheaper small satellite architectures. The recent developments in entry, descent, and landing (EDL) technology associated with deployable aeroshells may allow for small satellite orbit insertion via aerocapture. This paper serves to understand the design trade space for small satellite mission concepts while identifying potential candidate designs for more detailed analysis.

Rohan G. Deshmukh↗
NASA NTRS2018

ADEPT, A Mechanically Deployable Re-Entry Vehicle System, Enabling Interplanetary CubeSat and Small Satellite Missions

There is growing interest for utilizing Small Satellites beyond low Earth orbit. A number of secondary CubeSat payload missions are planned at Mars, cis-Lunar Space, near Earth objects, and moons of the Gas Giants. Use of smaller systems may enable utilization of otherwise unused capacity of larger "host" missions. Development of re-entry systems that leverage and accommodate Small Satellite technology will substantially expand the range of mission applications by offering the capability for high speed entry or aerocapture at destinations with atmospheres. Deployable entry vehicles (DEVs) offer benefits over traditional rigid aeroshells including volume, mass and payload form factor. The Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) offers such a delivery capability for Small Sat or CubeSat orbiter(s), in-situ elements, or landers. The ADEPT system can package with off the shelf CubeSat deployment systems (1U-16U) to offer a delivery capability for a single CubeSat or constellations. Furthermore, ADEPT can deliver the same science payload to a destination with a stowed diameter a factor of 3-4 times smaller than an equivalent rigid aeroshell, alleviating volumetric constraints on the secondary payload accommodation or primary carrier spacecraft bus. This paper will describe ADEPT's current development status and define various interplanetary mission concepts in order to provide guidelines for potential Small Satellite payload developers and mission implementers.

Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology↗
NASA NTRS2019

ADEPT for Interplanetary Small Satellite Missions

There is growing interest for utilizing Small Satellites beyond low Earth orbit. A number of secondary CubeSat payload missions are planned at Mars, cis-Lunar Space, near Earth objects, and moons of the Gas Giants. Use of smaller systems may enable utilization of otherwise unused capacity of larger "host" missions. Development of re-entry systems that leverage and accommodate Small Satellite technology will substantially expand the range of mission applications by offering the capability for high speed entry or aerocapture at destinations with atmospheres. Deployable entry vehicles (DEVs) offer benefits over traditional rigid aeroshells including volume, mass and payload form factor. The Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) offers such a delivery capability for Small Sat or CubeSat orbiter(s), in-situ elements, or landers. The ADEPT system can package with off the shelf CubeSat deployment systems (1U-16U) to offer a delivery capability for a single CubeSat or constellations. Furthermore, ADEPT can deliver the same science payload to a destination with a stowed diameter a factor of 3-4 times smaller than an equivalent rigid aeroshell, alleviating volumetric constraints on the secondary payload accommodation or primary carrier spacecraft bus. This paper will describe ADEPT's current development status and define various interplanetary mission concepts in order to provide guidelines for potential Small Satellite payload developers and mission implementers.

Cassell, Alan↗
NASA NTRS2014

Flight Testing of a Low Cost De-Orbiting Device for Small Satellites

Use of small and very small spacecraft is rapidly becoming more common. Methods to intentionally deorbit these spacecraft at the end of useful satellite life are required. A family of mass efficient Roll-Out De- Orbiting devices (RODEO"TM") was developed by Composite Technology Development, Inc. (CTD). RODEO"TM" consists of lightweight film attached to a simple, ultra-lightweight, roll-out composite boom structure. This system is rolled to stow within a lightweight launch canister, allowing easy integration to the small satellite bus. The device is released at the end of useful lifetime and the RODEO"TM" composite boom unrolls the drag sail in a matter of seconds. This dramatically increases the deployed surface area, resulting in the higher aerodynamic drag that significantly reduces the time until reentry. A RODEO"TM" flight demonstration was recently conducted as part of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium's (COSGC) RocketSat-8 program, a program to provide students hands-on experience in developing experiments for space flight. The experiment was ultimately a success and RODEO (trademark) is now ready for future CubeSat missions.

Turse, Dana↗
NASA NTRS2015

Pi-Sat: A Low Cost Small Satellite and Distributed Spacecraft Mission System Test Platform

Current technology and budget trends indicate a shift in satellite architectures from large, expensive single satellite missions, to small, low cost distributed spacecraft missions. At the center of this shift is the SmallSatCubesat architecture. The primary goal of the Pi-Sat project is to create a low cost, and easy to use Distributed Spacecraft Mission (DSM) test bed to facilitate the research and development of next-generation DSM technologies and concepts. This test bed also serves as a realistic software development platform for Small Satellite and Cubesat architectures. The Pi-Sat is based on the popular $35 Raspberry Pi single board computer featuring a 700Mhz ARM processor, 512MB of RAM, a flash memory card, and a wealth of IO options. The Raspberry Pi runs the Linux operating system and can easily run Code 582s Core Flight System flight software architecture. The low cost and high availability of the Raspberry Pi make it an ideal platform for a Distributed Spacecraft Mission and Cubesat software development. The Pi-Sat models currently include a Pi-Sat 1U Cube, a Pi-Sat Wireless Node, and a Pi-Sat Cubesat processor card.The Pi-Sat project takes advantage of many popular trends in the Maker community including low cost electronics, 3d printing, and rapid prototyping in order to provide a realistic platform for flight software testing, training, and technology development. The Pi-Sat has also provided fantastic hands on training opportunities for NASA summer interns and Pathways students.

Software↗
NASA NTRS1994

Small Satellite Propulsion Options

Advanced chemical and low power electric propulsion offer attractive options for small satellite propulsion. Applications include orbit raising, orbit maintenance, attitude control, repositioning, and deorbit of both Earth-space and planetary spacecraft. Potential propulsion technologies for these functions include high pressure Ir/Re bipropellant engines, very low power arcjets, Hall thrusters, and pulsed plasma thrusters, all of which have been shown to operate in manners consistent with currently planned small satellites. Mission analyses show that insertion of advanced propulsion technologies enables and/or greatly enhances many planned small satellite missions. Examples of commercial, DoD, and NASA missions are provided to illustrate the potential benefits of using advanced propulsion options on small satellites.

Myers, Roger M.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Survey of Verification and Validation Techniques for Small Satellite Software Development

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current trends and practices in small-satellite software verification and validation. This document is not intended to promote a specific software assurance method. Rather, it seeks to present an unbiased survey of software assurance methods used to verify and validate small satellite software and to make mention of the benefits and value of each approach. These methods include simulation and testing, verification and validation with model-based design, formal methods, and fault-tolerant software design with run-time monitoring. Although the literature reveals that simulation and testing has by far the longest legacy, model-based design methods are proving to be useful for software verification and validation. Some work in formal methods, though not widely used for any satellites, may offer new ways to improve small satellite software verification and validation. These methods need to be further advanced to deal with the state explosion problem and to make them more usable by small-satellite software engineers to be regularly applied to software verification. Last, it is explained how run-time monitoring, combined with fault-tolerant software design methods, provides an important means to detect and correct software errors that escape the verification process or those errors that are produced after launch through the effects of ionizing radiation.

Small Satellite Technology↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base Tool: Update and Future Direction

NASA’s Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI), in conjunction with NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI), has developed the SSRI Knowledge Base to improve mission confidence for small spacecraft. The SSRI Knowledge Base is a comprehensive and searchable online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions sponsored by NASA, other government agencies, and academia. This free, publicly available tool is available to the entire SmallSat community at: NASA SSRI Knowledge Base | Explore. The SSRI Knowledge Base provides vetted, high-quality sources of information on elements that are key to successful small satellite missions. These resources include SSRI working group generated documents and presentations in addition to existing guides, publications, standards, software tools, websites, and books. The Knowledge Base is fully searchable, offers downloadable content when possible, and otherwise links to or references content directly from within the tool. All 58 of the planned topic pages that comprise the SSRI Knowledge Base have been recently completed and include over 450 unique resources that are now available for review. Over the past several months significant enhancements to the tool’s capabilities have been developed and implemented. These enhancements consist of the completed baseline content; development of an Application Programming Interface (API); improved user interfaces; scalable and searchable Best Practices and Lessons Learned (BPLL) lists with ratings; and custom website analytics. This presentation and paper will discuss the motivation for and development of the SSRI Knowledge Base, demonstrate the existing tool, and outline plans for further development. The SSRI is a collaborative activity with broad participation from civil, Department of Defense, and both national and international commercial space systems providers and stakeholders. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base Tool: Update and Future Direction

NASA’s Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI), in conjunction with NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI), has developed the SSRI Knowledge Base to improve mission confidence for small spacecraft. The SSRI Knowledge Base is a comprehensive and searchable online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions sponsored by NASA, other government agencies, and academia. This free, publicly available tool is available to the entire SmallSat community at: NASA SSRI Knowledge Base | Explore. The SSRI Knowledge Base provides vetted, high-quality sources of information on elements that are key to successful small satellite missions. These resources include SSRI working group generated documents and presentations in addition to existing guides, publications, standards, software tools, websites, and books. The Knowledge Base is fully searchable, offers downloadable content when possible, and otherwise links to or references content directly from within the tool. All 58 of the planned topic pages that comprise the SSRI Knowledge Base have been recently completed and include over 450 unique resources that are now available for review. Over the past several months significant enhancements to the tool’s capabilities have been developed and implemented. These enhancements consist of the completed baseline content; development of an Application Programming Interface (API); improved user interfaces; scalable and searchable Best Practices and Lessons Learned (BPLL) lists with ratings; and custom website analytics. This presentation and paper will discuss the motivation for and development of the SSRI Knowledge Base, demonstrate the existing tool, and outline plans for further development. The SSRI is a collaborative activity with broad participation from civil, Department of Defense, and both national and international commercial space systems providers and stakeholders. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base Tool: Update and Future Direction

The Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI)Knowledge Base is a comprehensive and searchable online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions sponsored by NASA, other government agencies, and academia. This free, publicly available tool is available to the entire SmallSat community. The SSRI Knowledge Base provides vetted, high-quality sources of information on elements that are key to successful small satellite missions. These resources include SSRI working group generated documents and presentations in addition to existing guides, publications, standards, software tools, websites, and books. The Knowledge Base is fully searchable, offers downloadable content when possible, and otherwise links to or references content directly from within the tool. This presentation and paper will discuss the motivation for and development of the SSRI Knowledge Base, demonstrate the existing tool, and outline plans for further development. The SSRI is a collaborative activity with broad participation from civil, Department of Defense, and both national and international commercial space systems providers and stakeholders. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) funds the SSRI Knowledge Base. The S3VIis jointly sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2018

Streamlining Ground Station Network Compatibility Test for Small Satellites

A team of eight subject matter experts at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) completed a Lean Six Sigma project to identify process improvements for the compatibility test process for small satellites planning to use the NASA Near Earth Network (NEN). Ground station network compatibility testing is designed to reduce the risk to missions by resolving issues between the spacecraft's flight communication and navigation components and the ground systems prior to launch. Compatibility testing, which consists of a series of tests performed over a period of months and documented in reports, is an important step meant to prevent post-launch anomalies that could lead to expensive troubleshooting or mission failure. Compared to traditional missions, small satellite missions typically have a smaller budget and compressed schedules, which can result in small satellite projects' willingness to accept the risk associated with less comprehensive compatibility testing. Optimization and or refinement of the compatibility test process for small satellite missions could alleviate some of the pressures inherent with these factors. The goal of the Lean Six Sigma project was to develop alternative scalable methods of compatibility testing for small satellites. The Lean Six Sigma approach and the results of the project are reviewed in this paper.

Streamlining↗
NASA NTRS2017

Increasing Small Satellite Reliability- A Public-Private Initiative

At present, CubeSat components and buses are generally not appropriate for missions where significant risk of failure, or the inability to quantify risk or confidence, is acceptable. However, in the future we anticipate that CubeSats will be used for missions requiring reliability of 1-3 years for Earth-observing missions and even longer for Planetary, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics missions. Their growing potential utility is driving an interagency effort to improve and quantify CubeSat reliability, and more generally, small satellite mission risk. The Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI)—an ongoing activity with broad collaborative participation from civil, DoD, and commercial space systems providers and stakeholders—targets this challenge. The Initiative seeks to define implementable and broadly-accepted approaches to achieve reliability and acceptable risk postures associated with several SmallSat mission risk classes—from “do no harm” missions, to those associated with missions whose failure would result in loss or delay of key national objectives. These approaches will maintain, to the extent practical, cost efficiencies associated with small satellite missions and consider constraints associated with supply chain elements, as appropriate. The SSRI addresses this challenge from two architectural levels—the mission- or system-level, and the component- or subsystem-level. The mission- or system-level scope targets assessment approaches that are efficient and effective, with mitigation strategies that facilitate resiliency to mission or system anomalies while the component- or subsystem-level scope addresses the challenge at lower architectural levels. The initiative does not limit strategies and approaches to proven and traditional methodologies, but is focused on fomenting thought on novel and innovative solutions. This paper discusses the genesis of and drivers for this initiative, how the public-private collaboration is being executed, findings and recommendations derived to date, and next steps towards broadening small satellite mission potential.

SmallSat↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base Tool: Use Case Review and Future Functionality and Content Direction

NASA’s Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI), in conjunction with NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI), has developed the SSRI Knowledge Base to improve mission confidence for small spacecraft. The SSRI is a collaborative activity with broad participation from civil, Department of Defense, and both national and international commercial space systems providers and stakeholders. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate. The SSRI Knowledge Base is a comprehensive and searchable online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions sponsored by NASA, other government agencies, and academia. This free, publicly available tool is available to the entire SmallSat community at https://s3vi.ndc.nasa.gov/ssri-kb/. The SSRI Knowledge Base provides vetted, high-quality sources of information on elements that are key to successful small satellite missions. These resources include SSRI working group generated documents and presentations in addition to existing guides, publications, standards, software tools, websites, and books. The Knowledge Base is fully searchable, offers downloadable content when possible, and otherwise links to or references content directly from within the tool. All 58 of the planned topic pages that comprise the SSRI Knowledge Base have been recently completed and include over 450 unique resources that are now available for review. Over the past several months, significant enhancements to the tool’s capabilities have been developed and implemented. These enhancements consist of the completed baseline content, an Application Programming Interface (API), improved user interfaces, new interfaces for crowdsourcing of content and user ratings, and custom website analytics to inform future development. This presentation and paper will discuss the motivation for the SSRI Knowledge Base, review educational use case(s), and outline plans for further development. The 2022 session topic that best fits the abstract (select only one): Coordinating Successful Educational Programs

Small Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base Tool: Use Case Review and Future Functionality and Content Direction

NASA’s Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI), in conjunction with NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI), has developed the SSRI Knowledge Base to improve mission confidence for small spacecraft. The SSRI Knowledge Base is a comprehensive and searchable online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions sponsored by NASA, other government agencies, and academia. This free, publicly available tool is available to the entire SmallSat community at: NASA SSRI Knowledge Base | Explore. The SSRI Knowledge Base provides vetted, high-quality sources of information on elements that are key to successful small satellite missions. These resources include SSRI working group generated documents and presentations in addition to existing guides, publications, standards, software tools, websites, and books. The Knowledge Base is fully searchable, offers downloadable content when possible, and otherwise links to or references content directly from within the tool. All 58 of the planned topic pages that comprise the SSRI Knowledge Base have been recently completed and include over 450 unique resources that are now available for review. Over the past several months significant enhancements to the tool’s capabilities have been developed and implemented. These enhancements consist of the completed baseline content; development of an Application Programming Interface (API); improved user interfaces; scalable and searchable Best Practices and Lessons Learned (BPLL) lists with ratings; and custom website analytics. This presentation and paper will discuss the motivation for and development of the SSRI Knowledge Base, review of potential use case(s), and outline plans for further development and content generation. The SSRI is a collaborative activity with broad participation from civil, Department of Defense, and both national and international commercial space systems providers and stakeholders. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small Spacecraft↗