The role of smallsats in scientific exploration and commercialization of space

Azita Valinia; Joe Burt; Thai Pham; Opher Ganel

doi:10.1117/12.2519489

13 May 2019 The role of smallsats in scientific exploration and commercialization of space

Azita Valinia, Joe Burt, Thai Pham, Opher Ganel

Proceedings Volume 10982, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications XI; 1098221 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519489
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2019, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

Over the past decade, SmallSats have been established as having great potential for science exploration and commercialization of space. The SmallSat revolution aims to decrease the cost of space development, making space exploration accessible to students, educators, and public citizens. These efforts have focused on miniaturization of instruments and space platforms, as well as reducing their cost, mass, and needed power. In addition to enabling scientific exploration, SmallSats provide affordable means for the public to purchase remote sensing and communication products on a global scale. SmallSat mission concepts are particularly powerful when they are deployed in distributed architecture or constellations. For example, the most promising observation techniques for global science measurements of the Earth system and space weather require multi-point distributed observations of the Earth system at a feasible cost. The high cost of access to space has long been a barrier, especially with the prohibitive cost of large satellites. Affordable SmallSat constellations can be game-changers, enabling scientific exploration as well as commercial global data products. In this paper, we highlight investments made by NASA to date (specifically a study in developing and prototyping a SmallSat platform with standard interfaces), along with several example mission concept scenarios in Earth and space science (astrophysics, heliophysics, and planetary) applications that can be achieved using this platform.

Citation Download Citation

Azita Valinia, Joe Burt, Thai Pham, and Opher Ganel "The role of smallsats in scientific exploration and commercialization of space", Proc. SPIE 10982, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications XI, 1098221 (13 May 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519489

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