Creating Capable Nanosatellites for Critical Space Missions

INTRODUCTION Budgetary challenges and launch access limitations have historically constrained the ability to field new space capabilities and technologies for many U.S. government organizations focused on civil and national security alike. Throughout the past decade, advances in highly reliable commercial electronics, miniaturization techniques, and materials have enabled a new class of small nanosatellites, defined as having a total mass of 50 kg or less (according to the U.S. Air Force University Nanosat Program). 1 These nanosatellites now offer a solution to the problem of providing miniature, capable , and reliable satellites. While required aperture size and other instrument considerations often determine a minimum vehicle size, a nanosatellite provides an excellent , cost-effective means for conducting single-purpose missions. This niche of spacecraft design has historically been exercised by academia, whose principal focus has been on introducing the space systems engineering n response to our U.S. government sponsors' needs for smaller spacecraft that will more effectively utilize access to space, APL has created a flexible and modular Multi-Mission Nanosatellite (MMN) spacecraft architecture that will allow low-cost execution of critical missions. As part of a pathfinder effort, an initial triple (three unit, or 3U) CubeSat hardware prototype is being designed to stow into a 10 × 10 × 34 cm (4 × 4 × 13.4 in) containerized deployer. In this form factor, it will effectively capitalize on increasing secondary and tertiary launch opportunities by making use of unused volume and lift mass capability. To provide the desired combination of nanosatellite mission performance and reliability, APL developed an innovative approach using a multidepartmental team that leverages the technical insight and experience of the Laboratory's broad range of activities. This article presents the MMN motivation and approach, along with key design features of the initial 3U CubeSat configuration , currently being implemented in a fast development demonstration program and planned for launch in late 2011. 284 process to students and providing some invaluable hands-on experience. Assuming launch could be arranged at all, attention to mission utility or on-orbit operations was generally a secondary consideration or an afterthought to the primary pedagogical goals. The academic community has been very successful in developing, validating, and promulgating a secondary launch accommodation standard and the compatible spacecraft, the CubeSat. Originally conceived in the late 1990s by Bob Twiggs at Stanford University, the CubeSat was engendered by the prevalence of compact, affordable electronics and components that could be leveraged by …