Introduction tothe 8th Mission Idea Contest (MIC8)for Multiple Nano-satellites

Prof Herman Steyn© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

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Contents• MIC8 Requirements• Background• Previous MIC winners• Process and Timeline• Evaluation Criteria• Submissions© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

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MIC8 Requirements• The mission shall be carried out by multiple satellites made of 6U
CubeSat or smaller each.
• The number of satellites can be anything as long as there are atleast two satellites in the mission; and• The mission has clear benefits of having multiple satellites inorbit simultaneously.
••© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

Constellation missions (with no inter-satellite link) orFormation Flying missions (with inter-satellite link)3

Background (1)• Mission Idea Contest was launched in 2010 to encourage
innovative exploitation of micro/nano-satellites to provide
useful capabilities, services.
• It provides aerospace engineers, college students,
consultants, and anybody interested in space withopportunities to present their creative ideas and gaininternational attention.

MIC3 finalists and reviewers, Nov 19, 2014,
Kitakyushu, Japan© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

MIC4 finalists and reviewers, Oct. 21,2016, Verna, Bulgaria
4Background(2)
7 MICs and 4 Pre-Workshops were successfully organized
between 2011-2022.
• Results– Potential utilizations of micro/nano-satellites were provided in thelarge number of submitted proposals– Four books were published as IAA book series

MIC1-3© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

MIC4 & Deorbit Device Competition
5MIC5-6 & DCM2

MIC Winners’ Mission Ideas
Proposed ideaCountryStatus

MIC 1 (constellation)

Integrated Meteorological / Precise Positioning Mission Utilizing NanoSatellite ConstellationJapan

professional

MIC 2 (SatelliteDesign)

SOLARA/SARA:Solar Observing Low-frequency Array for Radio
Astronomy/ Separated Antennas Reconfigurable ArrayUSA

student

MIC 2 (Businessmodel)

Underground and surface water detection and monitoring using a
microsatellite

South Africa

student

MIC 3

Clouds Height Mission

Germany, Italy,
Slovenia

professional

MIC 4

Cubesat constellation for monitoring and detection of bushfires inAustralia

Australia

student

MIC 5

Smallsat Ionosphere Exploration at Several Times and Altitudes,Taiwan, USA, India

student

MIC 6 (ISS-IceCube)

MUSA: An ISS Experiment for research of a dual culture for Panama
DiseaseCosta Ricastudent

MIC6 (ISS-iSEEP)

Spectrum Monitoring from Space with i-SEEP (SMoSiS)

Philippines

professional

MIC7 (Deep space)

PARS: Precursor Asteroid Remote Survey

Turkyie

student© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

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Process and Timeline
Application Submission : Deadline June 30, 2023
Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by review teamNotification of Finalists: August 8, 2023
Title of paper and finalist(s)’ name and affiliation will be published on the website.

Final Paper Submission: October 3, 2023
Submitted final paper will be distributed to review team for evaluation

Presentation in Japan in November or December, 2023
at the 9th UNISEC-Global Meeting (in-person)© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

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Evaluation Criteria
Originality

Novel concept not yet realized or proposed, or a new
implementation of an existing capability or service (25).

ImpactImpact on society / Potential to expand scientific knowledge /Strengthen deep space mission motivation (25).
Technical description and solutions (20).

EngineeringFeasability© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

Operational (protocol, communication and interaction duringexperiment) (15).
Programmatic (realistic- cost, development schedule,infrastructure requirements, risks and opportunities) (15).
8Submissions• 23 Abstracts from 16 countries• 10 Finalists and 2 Semi-finalists from 10 countries• Constellations of 1.5U to 6U CubeSats• Constellations from 2 to 220 satellites• Payloads of Hyperspectral imagers, Multispectral imagers, GNSS,Lidar, SAR, Dosimeters, Mass Spectrometers, Phase Arrayantennas, etc.
• Missions to Europa (Jupiter moon), Earth’s Moon and LEO© 2023 UNISEC. All rights reserved.

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