Small Spacecraft Activities Around the Agency Archive
Highlights for May 2020
NASA’s Ames Research Center
NASA Ames has been busy with multiple SmallSat missions underway. STPSat-5, operated by Ames for the Air Force, just concluded its mission, while the Cubesat Handling of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer (CHOMPTT) mission, a collaboration with University of Florida, continues to operate after more than a year on orbit (https://pssl.mae.ufl.edu/#chomptt/main/). Early in the year, TechEdSat-8, a “linear 6U” cubesat, tested the latest iteration of Exo-Brake design as well as numerous technology payloads. Ames’ Affordable Vehicle Avionics (AVA) system, developed to provide guidance and control functions for nano-launchers, had a successful flight in November with the UP Aerospace SL-14. The TechEdSat-10 3U CubeSat was delivered to Nanoracks for deployer integration, and launched to ISS aboard SpaceX CRS-20 in March. Deployment to LEO from ISS is scheduled for July. TechEdSat-7 will follow on its heels, with spacecraft delivery for integration in August. TechEdSat-7 is planned to launch on Virgin Orbit’s 2nd launch. Ames is continuing development of the CubeSat Laser Intersatellite CrosslinK (CLICK), Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), and Starling missions for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP), and the BioSentinel deep-space 6U that will launch aboard SLS on the Artemis-1 mission.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/engineering/smallsat
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center’s small satellite portfolio has increased to five ongoing CubeSats since 2017 following the experienced gained with Dellingr, IceCube, STF-1, CeRES and HaloSat CubeSat missions. These new missions will address science questions in Heliophysics (petitSat, GTOSat, & Dione), Astrophysics (BurstCube), and Earth Sciences (SNOOPI). Goddard has been working on solutions to streamline the development process for successful implementation under the typical CubeSat schedule and budget constraints. These solutions include common architectures, standardization of spacecraft bus components and shared resources across missions such as engineering and other project support. The GSFC Small Satellite Projects Office (SSPO) was established to manage the entire portfolio and guide future development efforts. Goddard is also working on key enabling technologies such as advanced processing and communications for future constellation and deep space small satellite mission concepts. More information on GSFC small satellites activities can be found on the SSPO website:
https://smallsat.wff.nasa.gov/
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center / CubeSat Launch Initiative
2019 was another crazy busy year for the CSLI! The ELaNa-26, ELaNa-15, ELaNa-27, ELaNa-25A, ELaNa-25B and ELaNa-28 CubeSat complements (16 total CSLI selected missions, involving 19 individual spacecraft) were successfully carried to orbit aboard Antares II (NG-11 and NG-12), Falcon 9 (SpX-18 and SpX-19), and Falcon Heavy (STP-2) launch vehicles. So far in 2020, 12 CubeSats have been successfully deployed, including the monumental 100th CSLI CubeSat released into orbit on February 19, 2020. Since inception of the Initiative in 2010, a total of 108 CubeSats have been deployed into orbit. There are currently 33 other missions (consisting of 35 individual spacecraft) scheduled for launches in 2020 and early 2021! For more information about CSLI and ELaNa, please check out:
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative
NASA’s Langley Research Center
The year 2019 was pivotal for NASA’s Langley Research Center’s use of SmallSats. Shields-1, a radiation protection demonstration, became Langley’s first successful free-flying SmallSat project. Riding on a late 2018 launch by Rocket Lab, it blasted to orbit along with a set of other demonstrations and experiments. Shields-1 has successfully tested new shielding material developed at Langley and results have created a spike of industry interest. The mission continues to operate flawlessly and produce helpful data as of December 2019.
