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 Featured Sols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...3 min readSols 4214–4215: The Best Laid Plans...article1 day ago Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil2 min readHubble Observes a Cosmic Fossilarticle22 hours ago Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments2 min readVoyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instrumentsarticle1 day ago
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 Highlights A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

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		NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

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			14 hours ago Students watch a sounding rocket launch at sunrise.

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			15 hours ago NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode

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		NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode

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 Highlights A woman with long, wavy hair and a bright smile sits at a round table during a formal event, surrounded by other attendees. She is wearing a brown cardigan and a patterned blouse.

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		Lakita Lowe: Leading Space Commercialization Innovations and Fostering STEM Engagement

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			3 days ago NASA’s Repository Supports Research of Commercial Astronaut Health

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			4 days ago NASA astronaut Doug “Wheels” Wheelock and Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson prepare for a test of full-scale mockups of spacesuits developed by Axiom Space and SpaceX’s Starship human landing system developed for NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon.

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 Highlights A large propeller plane takes off from a runway, surrounded by brown and green grasses with low buildings out of focus in the background. The plane is white with a blue stripe down the middle, and has a NASA logo on the tail. The sky is a hazy blue with some clouds.

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			14 hours ago NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster Response

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 Highlights The Next Full Moon is the Strawberry Moon

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 Featured Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

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		Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

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 Highlights Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil

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8 min read NASA Selects Universities for Collaborative Development of Small Spacecraft Technologies


Jerry Colen IT Specialist
 Nine university teams will collaborate with NASA to advance small spacecraft technologies that will help pave the way for human and robotic lunar exploration. Under NASA’s Artemis program the agency plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024; small spacecraft, or “SmallSats,” will help blaze the trail. Currently, small spacecraft – ranging in size anywhere between a shoebox up to that of a refrigerator – mainly operate in low-Earth orbit. Technology advancements, through these collaborative partnerships, will more fully realize the potential of SmallSats as they extend their capabilities to complex lunar exploration missions. “As we prepare for the next robotic and crewed missions to the Moon, we expect small spacecraft to help forge the path ahead by scouting terrain, prospecting for resources and establishing communications and navigation capabilities in cislunar space,” said Christopher Baker, program executive for the Small Spacecraft Technology program. “Taking advantage of their small size and shorter development timelines, small spacecraft are increasingly capable as both rapid precursor missions and as cost-effective, in-space infrastructure.” In the future, SmallSats could provide exploration missions with communications relays or navigation services at the Moon, similar to how we use communications satellites and GPS around Earth. This capability could play an important role in helping the agency build a sustainable presence on the Moon. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program selected the university teams for its SmallSat Technology Partnerships initiative to mature new systems and capabilities. The technology development projects focus on three technical areas related to needs of Moon-bound missions: Use of small spacecraft to help provide lunar communications and navigation services
Small spacecraft propulsion for lunar missions and potential return of lunar samples using small spacecraft
Small spacecraft electrical power and thermal management systems tailored for the distant and harsh environment between Earth and the Moon The university teams and partner NASA centers, by topic, are: **Lunar Communications and Navigation** **Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with** **NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California** “Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture for Lunar Communications and Navigation” This partnership is for a novel deployable wide-aperture optical communications receiver. This technology will enable simpler, quicker optical communications target acquisition by receiving signals from more widely separated locations than other fixed, body-mounted optical systems. This technology will enable small spacecraft to relay data between other assets placed across the lunar surface, other spacecraft in different lunar orbits, and to Earth, simultaneously and more efficiently. **San Diego State University, California, in collaboration with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland** “Flat Panel Phased Array Antennas with Two Simultaneous Steerable Beams Utilizing 5G Ka-Band Silicon RFICs for Tx/Rx Communications Between 6U Small Satellite and Lunar Surface, Gateway and Earth” This partnership will develop two dual-band flat-panel phased-array antennas utilizing commercial 5G cellular technology. This approach takes advantage of commercially available communications technology to create a high-performance data communications network in a low-cost CubeSat form factor that’s capable of serving the lunar surface and orbiting systems. Using two separate, electrically steerable antennas would allow simultaneous communications with multiple other systems from a small relay satellite without moving the spacecraft or employing bulky mechanically rotated antennas. **University of California, Los Angeles, in collaboration with JPL** “High-precision Continuous-time PNT Compact Module for the LunaNet Small Spacecraft” This partnership will develop technology for the lunar environment similar to the GPS system at Earth. To develop a system for precise position, navigation and timing services at the Moon or Mars, the effort will incorporate several key building blocks including an integrated continuous time position, navigation and timing module including a chip-scale optomechanical accelerometer and commercial-off-the-shelf compact optical gyroscope paired with a high-performance mercury ion clock. **University of Colorado, Boulder, in collaboration with JPL** “A Small Satellite Lunar Communications and Navigation System” This collaboration will develop and demonstrate a communications, navigation and time signal distribution system using a communications protocol similar to that used by cell phones on Earth. The high data rates and communications protocol will support dozens of users simultaneously while also being capable of broadcasting text and alert messages. This draws from a variety of current and prior development and flight demonstration activities with the goal of integrating these various technologies into a single reliable, yet low-cost satellite that can be copied and deployed as a constellation to form a communications relay network at the Moon. **University of Texas, Austin, in collaboration with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston** “On-Orbit Demonstration of Surface Feature-Based Navigation and Timing” This collaboration will extend existing onboard optical navigation techniques by using identification and tracking of lunar craters in place of star tracking to create an intermediate range terrain relative navigation solution. Spacecraft near the Moon can incorporate this technology to track their location relative to the lunar surface as an innovative method of navigation independent of GPS or other Earth-based systems. By using the patterns that craters form on the lunar surface the way that current navigation systems use the patterns that stars form to determine where a spacecraft is in space, this technique can build from well-established star tracking capabilities to quickly produce a new capability from existing highly reliable systems. **SmallSat****Propulsion for Lunar Missions** **University of California, Irvine, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in collaboration with JPL** “Variable Specific Impulse Electrospray Thrusters for SmallSat Propulsion” This effort will build on previous fundamental physics modeling of existing propulsion technology that uses electrostatic charges to propel liquid droplets to generate thrust. It will further develop and test a more versatile system capable of operating in either a high-thrust mode when needed, or more efficient low-thrust mode to conserve fuel and save weight. This technology will add mission flexibility to electrospray propulsion systems while keeping within the compact size suited to small spacecraft. **University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, partnered with Froberg Aerospace LLC, Rolla, Missouri, in collaboration with Glenn and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland** “Lunar Missions Enabled by Chemical-Electrospray Propulsion” This partnership will build from a previous Small Business Innovation Research effort with Froberg Aerospace to test a dual mode — combustion mode and electrospray mode — propulsion system. The system uses the same propellant, feed system, power unit and thrusters for both modes adding additional mission capabilities while staying within the limited mass and space available on small spacecraft. The chemical combustion mode can provide higher thrust for orbital insertion and fast orbit transfers, while the more efficient electrospray mode used during low-energy maneuvers preserves fuel — reducing  size and weight which are critical for small spacecraft. **Utah State University, Logan, in collaboration with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama** “3D Printed Hybrid Propulsion Solutions for SmallSat Lunar Landing and Sample Return” This collaborative effort will build from successful suborbital testing of a 3D printed plastic and nitrous-oxide and gaseous oxygen hybrid rocket motor. This technology could enable missions of interest to NASA that require high thrust, such as lunar landing and sample return, to be performed by CubeSat-sized spacecraft. **Advanced Electrical Power Subsystem and Thermal Management Technology** **California State University, Los Angeles, and California Polytechnic State University in collaboration with JPL** “An Additively Manufactured Deployable Radiator with Oscillating Heat Pipes (AMDROHP) to Enable High Power Lunar CubeSats” CubeSats are compact and cannot efficiently radiate heat, yet lunar missions will demand more electrical power (which produces heat as a byproduct) for equipment like more powerful radio transmitters while simultaneously needing to deal with the harsh cislunar thermal environment. This technology addresses an increasingly critical need to radiate heat efficiently from small spacecraft. This partnership will develop an additively manufactured deployable radiator that uses integrated flexible oscillating heat pipes to provide more efficient heat transfer than traditional thermal straps. “These partnerships between academia and NASA help cultivate the rapid, agile and cost-conscious small spacecraft approaches that are evolving in the university community, as well as increase support to university efforts and foster a new generation of innovators for NASA and the nation,” said Jim Cockrell, chief technologist for the Small Spacecraft Technology program. “Working with universities provides access to the bright minds who will one day lead the journey of exploration.” The SmallSat Technology Partnerships initiative has four primary objectives: develop needed SmallSat technologies for NASA; engage university students in real-world SmallSat projects; provide student teams with NASA expertise and facilities; and allow NASA engineers to gain insights into the innovative and rapid development paradigm typical of academia. The Small Spacecraft Technology program has made five rounds of these awards since 2013. Projects are awarded in amounts up to $200,000 to the university team for up to two years in collaboration with a half-time NASA collaborator per year. Managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, the Small Spacecraft Technology program expands U.S. capability to execute unique and more affordable missions through rapid development and in-space demonstration of capabilities for small spacecraft that are applicable to exploration, science and the commercial space sector. The program enables new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft while seeking to expand the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations and challenging new environments. For more information about NASA’s small satellite activities, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats


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 Page Last Updated:
								Jul 26, 2023
							Page Editor:
								Jerry Colen
												Responsible NASA Official:
							Abigail Bowman