Welcome to the second edition of the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) resource brief!
Like the rest of the aerospace industry, the small spacecraft community has shared in the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply chains and development and launch schedules have all experienced impacts over the past several months. By now, hopefully more project teams are returning to the lab armed with the social distancing protocols that are now the new normal everywhere. On a positive note, we are learning to collaborate in new ways and with new tools and processes, possibly realizing new efficiencies and cost savings.
As we move toward hosting more virtual venues from in-person meetings and conferences, we are seeing significant increases in the number of participants in these virtual events. Attendance at our Small Spacecraft Community of Practice webinar series doubled and then tripled in recent months. Workshops and events hosted by other organizations are likewise seeing an increase in participation.
The S3VI is engaged in a number of efforts this summer. First, we hope that you plan to join us at the annual and this year virtual, NASA Town Hall being held this Monday, August 3, from 10:00AM to 12:00PM MDT. Registration for SmallSat2020 is required to access the WebEx connection to the Town Hall. Additionally, also in August, we expect to release our first version of the Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base – an online resource for mission and small spacecraft developers to access best practices and other references. We will request feedback on this new resource from the entire smallsat community. Finally, the 2020 Small Spacecraft Technology State of the Art (SoA) report is on track for publication this fall. We invite you to subscribe to the S3VI mailing list to receive the announcement when the report is published.
While some projects and events have been delayed or rescheduled, working together we will continue to find new ways to advance the utilization of small spacecraft for applications in science, exploration, and technology. NASA is committed and continues to drive toward executing our missions and achieving our goals with significant contributions from the small spacecraft community. As we all work toward these goals, we in the S3VI look forward to continued interaction with everyone, even if now our interactions and collaborations are literally, truly virtual. After all, it’s in our name.
We always welcome questions and suggestions, so please reach out to us at:
agency-smallsat-institute@mail.nasa.gov.
Systems Virtual Institute
Bruce Yost
Director, S3VI
