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MDC Studies – 2019

Luna Lynx

Preliminary feasibility assessment for a smallsatellite lunar communication relay with a Lunar South Pole asset.

Mission Concept Study report for the Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder (DAPPER)

Mission Concept Study report for DAPPER. DAPPER aimed at searching for deviations from the standard cosmological model by measuring the global 21-cm spectrum.

Miniaturized Distributed Occulter Telescope (mDOT)

Mission Concept study for mDOT. mDOT aimed to provide unprecedented detection and direct measurements of brightness of extrasolar dust disks visible to ultraviolet wavelength. mDOT will use a small satellite Starshade, and a 6U telescope spacecraft.

MDC Studies – 2018

Lunar Polar Prospector (LPP)

Preliminary feasibility assessment for the LPP concept. LPP aimed at enabling an assessment of lunar polar hydrogen using a 12U Cubesat in lunar polar orbit.

HelioSwarm

Initial Feasibility assessment for the HelioSwarm Mission. HelioSwarm aimed to investigate the turbulence effects of the solar wind leveraging Swarm technology to enable spatially distributed simultaneous measurement using magnetometers.

Telescope for Orbital Locus Interferometric Monitoring of our Astronomical Neighborhood (TOLIMAN)

Technical support to the TOLIMAN Astrophysics RFI. TOLIMAN aimed to discover and measure masses of all habitable zone rocky planets around nearby binary stars.

KickSat2

Technical support for the KickSat2 mission. Kicksat 2 demonstrated the viability of truly tiny satellites, called ChipSats or Sprites, deploying over 100 of them from a 3U Cubesat.

Spectro-Photometric Infrared SmallSat (SPIRS)

Technical support to the SPIRS ROSES proposal effort. SPIRS aimed to map the brightest stars in the sky to update the star catalogue.

MDC Studies – 2017

Starling

Initial feasibility assessment for the Starling flight mission.

Cubesat Handling of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer (CHOMPTT)

Technical support from pre-phase A to E to the CHOMPTT mission that demonstrates technology for enhanced GPS and future disaggregated navigation systems.

CubeX

Mission concept study for a small spacecraft  mission to measure and identfy composition of the lunar crust and upper mantle outcrops excaveted within and around impact craters through X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) excited Solar X-rays. CubeX was selected as part of the Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) program.

Aeolus

Mission concept study for a small spacecraft  mission to measure the winds and climate of Mars. Aeolus was selected as part of the Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) program.

MDC Studies – 2016

Mars Aerocentric Network for Thermal Atmospheric Sensing (MANTAS)

Technical support to the MANTAS ROSES proposal to use two 24U Cubesats to perform a global scale remote sensing mission to Mars.

RockSat

Technical support to the Rocksat ROSES proposal effort at determining the composition and distribution of the most primitive and most evolved lunar rocks to constrain the development of the Moon from its origins.

Near-Earth Asteroid Infrared Astrometry (NEAIRA)

Technical support to the NEAIRA ROSES proposal effort to discover and characterize previously unknown Near Earth objects (NEOs) using a constellation of small spacecraft carried by an ESPA ring based primary spacecraft.

Mars Aerostationary Cubesat Orbiter (MACO)

Preliminary feasibility assessment for the MACO mission concept to further understand the climate of Mars with a constellation of 6U CubeSats in an aerostationary orbit around Mars for a period of a Martian year.

Lunar Cycler

Flight Dynamic study on lunar cycler orbits.

Geo Payload Orbital Delivery System (Geo PODS)

Technical support to the GEO PODS mission concept. GEO PODS is a system developed under the DARPA Phoenix program by Space System Loral and Macdonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) to enable small spacecraft, up to 75 kg, to leverage a “free” ride to a quasi- GEO orbit.

FluidCam

Technical support to the FluidCam ESTO InVEST proposal effort CubeSat platform to demonstrate the first high-resolution imaging of shallow underwater environments from space.

Europa Life Signature Assayer (ELSA)

Mission concept study to augment the  Europa Clipper mission with a 250 kg free flyer robotic space probe to characterize an ejecta plume on Europa. The plume is artificially created and then analyzed with an instrument suite on the space probe to measure the subsurface material for signs of life, relaying data to the Clipper spacecraft.

MDC Studies – 2015

Micro-cathode Arc Thruster PhoneSat Experiment (MAPERS)

Collaboration effort with George Washington University (GWU) to design, test, and integrate a Micro-Cathode Arc Thruster to make it compatible with a PhoneSat Bus.

NEOShield

Mission concept study for a Gravity Tractor Demonstration Mission (GTDM).

Cupid

Technical support to a Technology Demonstration Opportunity (TDO) for a small entry demonstrator into Venus atmosphere in support of the RAVEN (RAdar at VENus) Discovery proposal effort.

MDC Studies – 2014

Nodes

Technical support to the Network & Operation Demonstration Satellite Nodes flight mission (launched 2015), with mission objectives to commanding a spacecraft not in direct contact with the ground by crosslinking commands through a space network; crosslinking science data from one Nodes satellite to the second satellite before sending it to the ground; and autonomous reconfiguration of the space communications network using the capability of Nodes to automatically select which satellite is best suited to serve as the ground relay each day.

Heterogeneous Space Network (HSN)

Technical support to the Ames research effort (three 2014 IEEE papers) on HSN, including investigations on basic concept of operations, network management, performance and enabling hardware and software.

ReconSat

Concept study for a 6U Cubest designed to demonstrate proximity operations and free flight around a designated target body.

Small Spacecraft Technology State of the Art Report

First and second edition of the Small Spacecraft Technology State of the art report. Third edition released December, 2018 available here: https://sst-soa.arc.nasa.gov/

UV-LED

Technical support to the payload portion of the UV-LED flight mission, in cooperation with Stanford University and King AbdulAziz City of Science and Technology (KACST). The UV-LED mission (launched June 2014) demonstrated non contact AC charge control using solid state ultra violet LED, and allowed for concurrent science collection during charge management operations.

Europa Ice Penetrator

White paper investigating state of the art and potential technology needed for a robotic ice penetrator for Europa.

CNAT-2 Common Nanolauncher Avionics Technology Prototype

Technical support for the CNAT-2 effort intended to provide flight qualified prototype of a low cost navigation, guidance and control avionics package using COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) components.

Ceres Plume Chaser

Mission concept study for a small spacecraft exploration mission to the dwarf planet, Ceres.

αCen

Mission concept study for direct imaging of Alpha Centaury to detect Earth-like planets.

Smart Impactor

Concept study for a Europa mission costing less than $ 1 Billion.

Plume Chaser

Concept study to explore a novel approach for low cost exploration of the Solar System. Plume Chaser mission goal is to detect and fly through an Europan plume to search for evidence of life.

MDC Studies – 2013

Trajectory Browser

The Trajectory Browser provides a search engine, a visualizer, and mission summaries for designing trajectories to planets and small-bodies, such as Near Earth Objects (NEOs), and is located here:

Red Dragon

Concept study for utilizing a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) for a Mars Return Sample Return Mission (MSR).

BioSentinel

Initial feasibility assessment for the BioSentinel flight Mission, which is planned to launch on Artemis 1 (formerly named Exploration Mission-1) end of 2020. BioSentinel mission will develop a biosensor to detect and measure the impact of space radiation on living organisms over long durations beyond LEO.

NEOX

Technical support to the Asteroid Initiative request for information (RFI) Primary Area 4, Capture System.

MDC Studies – 2012

Hummingbird

Technical support to a joint (Microcosm, Inc. and NASA Ames Research Center) effort to develop a new class of very-low-cost, rapidly built interplanetary spacecraft.

Hyperspectral Imager Cubesat (HyCube)

Concept study for a 6U Hyperspectral Imager Cubesat for coastal ocean color.

Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)

Technical support of proposal and development of the IRIS mission that takes high resolution images of the sun’s chromosphere to undnerstand how energy is moved to the corona.

Cubesat Hydrometric Atmospheric Radiometer (CHARM)

Technical support of proposal and early phase of the CHARM mission of a water vapor radiometer integrated on a 3U CubeSat platform, selected for implementation under the NASA Hands-On Project Experience (HOPE-3) program.

MDC Studies – 2011

Lunar Impactor

Mission concept trade study for a small spacecraft to investigate lunar surface magnetic anomalies.

PhoneSat

Technical support to the PhoneSat Project that sucessfully demonstrated a spacecraft can be built using a smartphone, the lowest-cost spacecraft in space.

Atmosphere Perturbation Pico-Satellite (APPS)

Mission concept study to investigate how a CubSat could provide weather and climate information using GPS radio occultation.

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) [Gravity Wave Observatory]

Technical support to the NASA Gravitational-Wave Mission Request For Information (RFI).

Space-based Telescope for Actionable Refinement of Ephemeris (STARE)

Technical support to the STARE mission capability demonstration to improve space flight safety and establish a new nanosatellite bus with innovative capabilities for proximity operations.

Ethersat

Mission concept study for a CubeSat swarm with space to space communication network based on COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) hardware.

Planetary Hitch Hiker

Mission concept study for a flexible green-propulsion rideshare platform for deep space.

Distributed Resources and Autonomous Maneuvering (DRAAM)

Technical support to the DRAAM tech demo proposal.

SEP Flight Demo (Tech Demo Proposal)

Technical support for a thruster configuration study for a Solar Electric Propulsion tech demo proposal.

NEA Close Rendez-vous and Operations Satellite (NCROSS)

Technical support to the NCROSS tech demo proposal effort.

LightForce (Tech Demo Proposal)

LightForce is a concept to prevent collisions between space debris and other space objects, utilizing photon pressure from ground based lasers to nudge debris out of a collisional path. The LightForce effort at Ames lasted between 2010-2017 and resulted in a partially funded mission proposal, experimental studies, and the development and execution of concept simulations on the Ames’ supercomputer.

Dark Ages Radio Explorer (DARE)

Flight dynamics support to the DARE Explorer Program proposal effort to probe the epoch of formation of the first stars, black holes, and undetected galaxies using the redshifted hyperfine 21-cm transition from neutral hydrogen.

Astrobiology and Deuterium Explorer Mission (ADEX)

Technical support to the ADEX Explorer Program proposal effort of an IR spectrometer to detect and identify molecules in nearly 1000 objects with environments that span the entire lifecycle of materials in space.

MDC Studies – 2010

NanoEye

Mission concept study for a low-cost, responsive surveillance spacecraft  <1.5m resolution at nadir.

Amor

Technical support to the Amor Discovery Proposal effort to rendezvous with a triple C-Type asteroid system.

Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (OOREO)

Technical support to the OOREOS mission (launched 2010) to demonstrate the capability to conduct low-cost astrobiology science experiments on autonomous nanosatellites in space.

MAX

Technical support for a Discovery proposal effort for a multiple Near Earth Asteroid rendezvous and flyby mission using a main small spacecraft and two CubeSat probes.

MuSAR

Technical support for a Discovery proposal collaboration effort to perform a SAR (synthetic aperture) mission to Venus, capable of acquiring imagery at high (~1m) resolutions for specifically targeted locations.

SPRITE

Mission concept study for a LEO spacecraft platform to enable the testing of an Earth re-entry capsule.

Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Testing (FAST)

Internal ARC proposal to fund an attitude control testbed for nanosatellites. The test apparatus would advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of active attitude determination and control subsystem (ADCS) technologies for extremely small spacecraft. 

F6

Technical support to the F6 program to assess the benefit of fractionated spacecraft NASA mission and support to design the first reference mission for the program.

Pharmasat

Technical support to the Pharmasat mission (launched 2009), a nanosatellite that successfully analyzed how yeast responded to an antifungal treatment to learn more about drug action in space.

MDC Studies – 2009

Lunar Atmosphere Dust & Environment Explorer (LADEE)

Flight dynamics support to asses the recovery from missing the critical capture burn at the Moon for the LADEE mission.

Space-Time Anisotropy Test (STAT)

Concept study for the STAT mission to measure the absolute anysotropy of the velocity of light to one part in 10E19.

Edison Program

Technical support to the Edison Program (currently the Small Spacecraft Technology Program – SSTP), which aims to improve the technology maturation, infusion and commercialization processes by providing small, low cost space flight demonstration platforms.

MDC Studies – 2008

NanoSail-D

Technical support in thermal analysis to the NanoSailD Mission, a nanosatellite solar sail demonstration.

Ames-Goddard Earth Science Spacecraft (AGESS)

Mission concept pre-phase A study to assess the possibility of creating a reusable spacecraft architecture associated with a short development time that can to meet the needs requirements of Earth Science missions at the low-cost end of the Earth Science mission portfolio ($50- 75M per mission excluding launch vehicle costs).

Blue Marble

Mission concept study for a cis-lunar spacecraft based on the Ames Common Bus design to improve the understanding of observables of Earth, and to support planning observation of extrasolar terrestrial planets.

SBIRSat

Provide an assessment of the possibility of constructing an Earth orbiting spacecraft from components and processes derived from Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) technologies and contracts, with a focus on the Common Bus design, pending plug-and-play (PnP) operational compatibility.

Measurement & Analysis of Apophis Trajectory (MAAT)

Provide an assessment of the possibility of constructing an Earth orbiting spacecraft from components and processes derived from Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) technologies and contracts, with a focus on the Common Bus design, pending plug-and-play (PnP) operational compatibility.

Cost Optimized Test of Spacecraft Avionics and Technology (COTSAT)

Research effort to investigate the development of a rapidly produced low-cost spacecraft.

Didymus Explorer (Dex)

Feasibility assessment to support a SMEX proposal for in-situ investigation of a the binary asteroid Didymos.

MDC Studies – 2007

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

Initial feasibility assessment for the TESS mission, including leading the funded Phase A which ended March, 2009. TESS launched on April 18, 2018.

Pegasus Explorer for Remote Sensing and in-sitU Space science (PERSEUS)

Technical support to the PERSEUS SMEX proposal effort to investigate global heliospheric dynamics from L1.

Hover Test

Assessment for a Lunar Lander based on the ARC Common Bus concept. The MDC supported testing by setting up a data acquisition system for the propulsion system.

SMEX ERE (MOO)

Feasibility assessment to support a SMEX proposal for a space borne imagining spacecraft to map the  Extended Red Emission in the Milky Way.

ARCSat Gen-1

Mission concept study for a modular nanosatellite < 20 kg for LEO and Lunar missions.

Point of Contact:

Alan Cassell
MDC Lead
NASA Ames Research Center
alan.m.cassell@nasa.gov