Article sharing: NASA hopes to launch high-tech demos early and often

NASA's new space technology development program is taking a page from Google.

The innovative Internet firm's mantra of launching products early and often could be the tagline for NASA's consolidated initiative to develop revolutionary space capabilities, according to the agency's chief technologist.

"Google has a saying that they borrowed from the space program," said Bobby Braun, NASA's leading technology official. "Launch early and launch often. That's the kind of thing we're going to do in this program." (If the reader has gone through our post on Philosophy of Micro and Nanosatellites, you probably realize that this is not a new idea. But how early and often can it be would be something interesting to anticipate)

President Obama proposed spending $5 billion over the next five years to put a charge into NASA's technology development programs, which have suffered from draining budgets and a decentralized management structure.

Congress has not acted on the White House's proposed budget, but if it is passed and the technology office is funded, NASA could fill its mission roster with an array of new demonstration missions.

More launches and flight opportunities will directly translate to more risk, according to Braun.

"We are going to fail," Braun said Tuesday in a technology forum at the University of Maryland, College Park.

But the biggest discoveries often come in the aftermath of failures, Braun said, cautioning engineers to never be afraid of setbacks. (Not only for engineers but all of us!)

The flagship technology demos, each costing between $400 million and $1 billion, could prove atmospheric aerocapture, in-space propellant storage, advanced ion and plasma propulsion, inflatable modules, automated rendezvous and docking, and closed-loop life support systems.

But that list is not all-inclusive, according to NASA.

The most costly flight demonstrations could begin in 2014, with subsequent missions launching every 12 to 18 months. (Here is the meaning of 'often' in the article, an improvement from typical 2 years development life-cycle for a nanosatellite project.)

NASA's first flagship test flight could be a powerful plasma engine bolted to the International Space Station in 2014. The VASIMR engine, an experimental electric rocket designed by former astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, is scheduled to launch to the station within about four years, if the technology is ready.

Braun's vision for a more tech-oriented NASA will reach across the spectrum to relatively inexpensive small satellites to test focused technologies.

NASA announced the next round of Centennial Challenges on Tuesday. The competitions include a challenge to launch a tiny satellite into Earth orbit twice in one week.

The winner would receive a $2 million prize, but NASA first has to select a non-profit organization to manage the competition. Officials are also seeking sponsors.

"This is to stimulate innovations in launch technology and also to encourage the creation of commercial nanosat delivery services," said Andy Petro, manager of the Centennial Challenges program.

The satellite's must have a mass of more than 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, and the craft must measure at least 10 centimeters, or 3.9 inches, on a side.

Petro said the nanosatellite launch competition, along with a night rover and sample return robot demonstration on the ground, are the first Centennial Challenges NASA has announced since 2005.

Centennial Challenges are aimed at small businesses and students.

"NASA sponsors prize competitions because the agency believes student teams, private companies of all sizes and citizen-inventors can provide creative solutions to problems of interest to NASA and the nation," Braun said in a statement. "Prize competitions are a proven way to foster technological competitiveness, new industries and innovation across America." (Ansari X Prize which kick-started space tourism is the best example!)

The space agency also plans two small satellite programs to expedite the development of spacecraft subsystems and test them in flight.

Named after inventors Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, the subsystem and flight programs would mature low-cost small satellite technologies from the drawing board to orbit, said Brant Sponberg, a manager in NASA's small satellite technologies program.

Once fundamental technologies are proven in the Franklin program, NASA would select capabilities for full development in the Edison demonstration line.

Sponberg said NASA would pick one or two Edison missions per year with costs between $1 million and $10 million. The small satellites would have design and construction timelines of two years before launch as a secondary payload on an existing rocket.

NASA plans to release a draft broad agency announcement Aug. 9 to solicit ideas from academia, industry and federal agencies.

The Edison program must not duplicate the work of other federal small satellite demonstration programs, Sponberg said, including the Pentagon's Operationally Responsive Space office, which aims to rapidly and cheaply develop spacecraft for tactical military needs.

Braun said the refocused space technology program will be managed by a single office at NASA Headquarters, consolidating projects that were spread across the country.

The technology office could also ease pressures on scientific missions to innovate on the fly, which drives up costs and stretches schedules.

"It takes something like this, a focus on rebuilding the research and technology competency of the agency, to get my juices going," Braun said. "And believe me, they're going."

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: July 13, 2010

Philosophy of Micro and Nanosatellites

‘Small satellites - Big future’, title of 2010 Appleton Lecture by Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting at The Institute of Engineering&Technology on Jan 19, 2010

History of satellites started since the launching of Sputnik 1, first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. Interestingly, micro and nanosatellites showed their existence at the very initial stage of human space exploration. Sputnik 1 had a mass of 83.6kg while Explorer 1, first satellite of US launched at 1958, had a mass of 14kg. They are categorized as micro (<100kg) and nanosatellite (<20kg) respectively according to classification in the present day.  

  Figure 1: Sputnik-1

Figure 2: Explorer-1

As the launch vehicles capability steadily increased from 1960s onwards, larger, heavier and more complex satellites were designed and launched into the space. The trend has concerned space community about the decrease in flight opportunities, increasing cost per mission as well as long design and development life-cycle which could take more than 10 years for a complex mission. Compromised solutions had been made in integrating diverse and incompatible functions into large satellite, therefore, result in a poor and inefficient design. Failure of a system could possibly ruin the whole mission.

 Figure 3: TerreStar-1 communication satellite with a launch mass of 6910kg is the largest communication satellite ever built and launched into space on 2009-07-01.

Realizing of these demerits, microsatellites regained attention of space community. Functionalities of a large satellite were distributed into several smaller satellites which are smaller in mass, less complex and cheaper to develop. This also leads to a shorter development life-cycle and improved reliability. Design-to-cost approach, introduced at Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), Vienna, Austria, 1999 and pioneered by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), utilizes existing technologies to achieve cost reduction. The approach imposes a strict constraint on cost and schedule to avoid cost overrun which is commonly seen in previous design-to-capability approach. Relatively short mission life time of microsatellites permits utilization of non-space-qualified components or known as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, e.g. MEMS sensors with very low mass and low volume. These cutting edge components are generally more superior in performance than those space qualified components. At the same time, the approach is also supported by advance in electronic miniaturization and emerging of small launchers.

The microsatellite philosophy is particularly attractive for space emerging countries. These countries able to initiate their own space program now at reduced mission complexity and cost. Micro and nanosatellites have provided an affordable way for the space emerging countries to achieve space independence by putting their own communication, earth observation or defense security satellites into orbit. Performance of their microsatellites may not match with larger satellites but they have the direct control and access to the satellites without relying on major satellite service providers.

 Figure 4: SNAP-1, a 6.5kg nanosatellite developed by SSTL

Figure 5: CubeSat and InnoSat developed by ATSB 

The philosophy also benefits established space agencies. NASA has embraced on ‘faster, better, cheaper’ approach to promote a cost effective way to carry out near-Earth scientific missions and planetary explorations, e.g. it allows NASA to send at least a spacecraft to Mars during each Earth-Mars launch window in the future. They have been granted with more mission opportunities that novel technological ideas can be verified and proved in a shorter timeframe. Cost saving in microsatellite missions is approximately two orders of magnitude compare to larger satellite missions, allows the missions to be more diversified and more potential users involved. According to recent information gathered, as shown in Figure 6, a significant development in microsatellites (<100kg) over the last 10 years further verifies the potential of micro and nanosatellites.

 Figure 6: Number of micro (<100kg) and nanosatellites (<20kg) being launched into space from 1990 to 2009 (up to November 2009). From 2000 to 2009, nanosatellites (<20kg) contribute a significant proportion of total microsatellites (<100kg).