Welcome to the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) Resource Brief!
March 11th marked the one-year anniversary of the California Bay Area’s original shelter in place order. NASA’s Ames Research Center, located in the Bay Area and the resident center of the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute, initiated mandatory telework orders to all but essential personnel and as of this writing, remains in mandatory telework status with only mission-critical staff allowed access. In the early days of the pandemic, it was impossible to anticipate the extent of the impact or the length of time needed to return to ‘normal’. And little by little as our essential staff returned to the centers to work on their mission-critical projects, many of us learned to embrace the virtual collaborative tools previously reserved to interact with our colleagues working in other states and countries, never thinking that they would routinely be used to talk with a teammate from the office next door.
It’s remarkable what our small spacecraft community and the space community in general, have been able to accomplish over the past 12 months. While continuing to operate much of the day-to-day virtually, NASA and our partners still launched missions; released funding opportunities; awarded many new small spacecraft projects and missions; developed new tools; and shared our accomplishments at annual, albeit virtual, conferences. This was all done while taking care of and teaching our children, managing a new work-life balance, and navigating the impacts of COVID-19 which were different for each of us.
I dare say that we may even know each other a little bit better for this experience and I am looking forward to the extraordinary work we will accomplish going forward.
As always, I encourage you to email us at agency-smallsat-institute@mail.nasa.gov with your comments and suggestions.
Systems Virtual Institute
Bruce Yost
Director, S3VI
