Sigrid Close
Stanford University
Illustration of mothership and probe subsystems in the SCATTER concept. Credits: Sigrid Close
SCATTER studies the capability for a parent spacecraft to transmit power and remotely manipulate a small probe spacecraft through a laser transmitter, entitled Sustained CubeSat Activity Through Transmitted Electromagnetic Radiation (SCATTER). This capability enables the mothership to intermittently deploy probes during a long-duration deep space mission to Uranus where the use of only PV and battery power sources would be infeasible. Using these probes allows a single mission to provide enhanced scientific measurements such as magnetic field gradients, leading to a better understanding of the ice giants, which are the least explored planets in our solar system.
