Session
Technical Session IV: The Year in Retrospect
Abstract
The Joint Warfighting Space Demonstration 1 (JWS-D1), a.k.a. Roadrunner, a.k.a. TacSat-2 mission is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to demonstrate techniques and methodologies to dramatically shorten the development time required for small satellites. The JWS-D1 program will demonstrate a 14-month development time from inception to launch readiness, a one week time from call up to on orbit readiness, and a 24-hour autonomous on-orbit commissioning. JWS-D1 will accomplish these impressive schedule milestones while fielding a suite of more than a dozen experiments. Microsat Systems, Inc. is supplying the JWS-D1 spacecraft bus based on a design originally qualified for the TechSat-21 program. During the course of this program MSI, AFRL, and the other participants have learned a great deal about how to adapt existing designs to new missions as rapidly as possible. This paper discusses some of those key lessons with an emphasis on how they apply to the application of modularity in spacecraft design in particular. These lessons emphasize the success of a “capabilities-driven” approach instead of a “requirements-driven” approach and the extensive use of software modularity and adaptability to meet mission goals.
Presentation Slides
MSI TacSat-II Lessons Learned
The Joint Warfighting Space Demonstration 1 (JWS-D1), a.k.a. Roadrunner, a.k.a. TacSat-2 mission is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to demonstrate techniques and methodologies to dramatically shorten the development time required for small satellites. The JWS-D1 program will demonstrate a 14-month development time from inception to launch readiness, a one week time from call up to on orbit readiness, and a 24-hour autonomous on-orbit commissioning. JWS-D1 will accomplish these impressive schedule milestones while fielding a suite of more than a dozen experiments. Microsat Systems, Inc. is supplying the JWS-D1 spacecraft bus based on a design originally qualified for the TechSat-21 program. During the course of this program MSI, AFRL, and the other participants have learned a great deal about how to adapt existing designs to new missions as rapidly as possible. This paper discusses some of those key lessons with an emphasis on how they apply to the application of modularity in spacecraft design in particular. These lessons emphasize the success of a “capabilities-driven” approach instead of a “requirements-driven” approach and the extensive use of software modularity and adaptability to meet mission goals.
