Small Spacecraft Activities Around the Agency
Highlights for May 2022
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Wallops Flight Facility
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s SmallSat team has been busy with final integration and test activities for 3 of its current 6-unit (6U) spacecraft: Petitsat, GTOSat, and SigNals of Opportunity: P-band Investigation (SNOOPI). Petitsat and SNOOPI have planned deliveries to Nanoracks, LLC in July, with GTOSat following closely behind and delivering for launch in August.
Learn more about the current NASA Goddard “6U Fleet” at: https://smallsat.wff.nasa.gov/2021/smallsatgsfc/
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center / CubeSat Launch Initiative
NASA recently announced the selected eight small research satellites from seven states to fly as either auxiliary payloads or deployments from the International Space Station.These missions are currently planned to launch in the 2023-2026 timeframe and were proposed by educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and NASA centers. The next Announcement of Partnership Opportunity will be released in early August 2022.
For more information including upcoming ELaNa CubeSat missions and valuable resources such as CubeSat 101: Basic Concepts and Processes for First-Time CubeSat Developers, visit NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative website.
NASA’s Ames Research Center
A microwave oven–sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit as part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE). As a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program, CAPSTONE will help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit. The CAPSTONE mission is planned for launch no earlier than May 2022.
A number of recent stories and other resources on this mission are available:
- CAPSTONE Charts a New Path for NASA’s Moon-Orbiting Space Station
- NASA’s CAPSTONE Prepares to Enter Unique Orbit
- CAPSTONE: Flying a New Path to the Moon
- What is CAPSTONE?
NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is managing the CAPSTONE project. The program is based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A number of small spacecraft projects recently completed milestones.
The Lunar Flashlight project successfully completed system integration and environmental testing including vibration and thermal vacuum testing at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The project also recently completed a fit check with the flight dispenser. The spacecraft will be shipped to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama for fueling of the ‘green’ Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic (ASCENT) monopropellant (AF-M315E). Following fueling, the spacecraft will be sent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch vehicle integration. Lunar Flashlight is expected to launch no earlier than January 2023. For more information please visit: https://www.gtri.gatech.edu/newsroom/lunar-flashlight
The Lunar Trailblazer (LTB) project successfully completed its System Integration Review and is proceeding with Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations. Much of the spacecraft hardware is ready and the instruments are proceeding through their own integration and testing with both on schedule to deliver. LTB is planned for launch no earlier than June 2023. For more information please visit: https://trailblazer.caltech.edu/
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program held a three-day workshop on Low-Cost Science Mission Concepts for Mars Exploration (a.k.a., #LowCostMars2022) at the Pasadena Westin Hotel in Pasadena, CA, on 29-31 March. The workshop featured five panels on topics including science objectives, lessons learned for low-cost mission implementation, technology needs, low-cost transportation, and emerging commercial capabilities, as well as over 70 invited and contributed talks and posters. With over 150 on-site participants and nearly 400 total registrants (including remote participants from 16 countries viewing the livestream), the meeting demonstrated the strong community interest in understanding the role that low-cost missions can serve as part of the future Mars Exploration Program. Over the three days, the community reached a strong consensus that low-cost missions in the $100M – $300M range could make compelling science contributions as part of the future Mars Exploration Program.
NASA’s Langley Research Center
NASA’s Langley Research Center completed the assembly, integration, and test of the GPX2 spacecraft that is scheduled for a June 2022 launch. GPX2 is a technology demonstration mission that will provide a novel test-bed for Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) differential global positioning systems (dGPS) to enable future on-orbit assembly, docking, and formation-flying small satellite missions. GPX2 uses an additive manufactured process for the SmallSat primary structure providing cost, weight, and lead time savings.
The ATHENA payload has been delivered to NovaWurks and is being integrated into their conformal sensorcraft HISat architecture that will demonstrate an Earth Radiation Budget measurement. The viability of this approach is to support future missions. The ATHENA launch is scheduled for June 2023.
Shields-1 NOVICE 3D Monte Carlo modeling is ongoing. Recently, the shielding effectiveness of all 8 microdosimeters were determined by ray trace. The added information has calibrated the whole spacecraft as energy particle detectors for minimum incidental energies from 135 MeV for the thinnest shielded dosimeter, to 194 MeV for the thickest shielded dosimeter. These thick shielded dosimeters are currently mapping high particle energies in the South Atlantic Anomaly.
