KECK INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES

       

Small Satellites: A Revolution in Space Science - Part II

October 29-31, 2012
California Institute of Technology - Pasadena, CA 91125

Final Report

Workshop Overview:

Welcome, and welcome back, to the second workshop of the KISS Small Satellites: A Revolution in Space Science study program! The main objective of the second workshop is to identify the technology challenges that must be overcome to advance SmallSat capabilities for revolutionary space science observations as defined by the set of candidate missions identified in the first workshop. We will not focus on the specific technology advances needed for each of the mission concepts in Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary science; we will instead look to a more generic approach relevant to the subject area of revolutionary space science and feed the results of that exercise back into the specific mission concepts already identified. This will allow for a more thorough capturing of the advances needed in this area, especially as we develop new concepts in the future.

We will start the meeting with a review of the mission concepts identified in the first workshop along with a summary of other related activities that occurred during the study period. This will be followed by group interactive discussions on the technology SOA and future needs along with a reference mission for the SmallSat science driven Team-X concurrent engineering exercise. Technology gaps for the broad class of revolutionary space science missions will be identified producing a clear understanding and analysis of how the identified future technologies can drive forward the mission concepts created in the first workshop. We will also discuss follow-on activities to sustain the group beyond the KISS Study program.

Workshop Participants:

  • Vassilis Angelopoulos - UCLA/JPL
  • Manan Arya - Caltech
  • John Baker - JPL
  • Katharine Brumbaugh - University of Texas Austin
  • Julie Castillo-Rogez - JPL/Caltech
  • James Cutler - University of Michigan
  • Courtney Duncan - JPL
  • Daniel Erwin - University of Southern California
  • Tony Freeman - JPL
  • Lou Friedman - The Planetary Society
  • Jason Hyon - JPL
  • Travis Imken - University of Texas Austin
  • Rebecca Jensen-Clem - MIT
  • Michael Johnson - JA
  • Laura Jones - Cornell University
  • Paulett Liewer - JPL/Caltech
  • Glenn Lightsey - University of Texas Austin
  • Martin Lo - JPL
  • Neil Murphy - JPL
  • Stephen Murray - STS/John Hopkins University
  • Charles Norton - JPL/Caltech
  • Sergio Pellegrino - Caltech
  • Christopher Shaffer - UCLA
  • John Springmann - University of Michigan
  • Robert Staehle - JPL
  • John Steeves - Caltech
  • Jordi Puig-Suari - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
  • Stephen Unwin - JPL
  • Angelos Vourlidas - Naval Research Laboratory
  • Austin Williams - Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc.

Workshop Presentations

Team Leads

Summary of Primary Concepts
(62 KB .pdf)

Matt Bennett
JPL

CubeSat Technology: Current State of the Art and Future Needs
(16 MB .pdf)

Glenn Lightsey
University of Texas Austin

Operational Considerations for CubeSats Beyond Low Earth Orbit
(3.4 MB .pdf)

Juergen Mueller
JPL

Microfluidic Electric Propulsion - A Future Alternative to Sails?
(911 KB .pdf)

Charles Norton
JPL

Processing SOA Discussion
(2.4 MB .pdf)

Keith Warfield
JPL

Team X Study - Overview of the concurrent engineering process and reference mission
(8.3 MB .pdf)