Session
Technical Session IV: Hardware in Space
Abstract
MightySat Phase II is the second phase of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) multi-mission, small satellite program dedicated to accelerating state-of-the-art space system technologies from the research environment to the user community. Phillips Lab is the USAF center for space technology research and development under the newly established AFRL. The Phase II program provides up to five spacecraft for the laboratory's technology development community to demonstrate space systems technologies important to the USAF, rapidly and inexpensively. This paper focuses on the standard MightySat Phase II vehicle, a very capable small spacecraft under development by Spectrum Astro, Inc. of Gilbert, AZ, the hybrid launch vehicle environment the spacecraft requires, and the first Phase II mission. Each 3-axis stabilized spacecraft dedicates 100-125 lbs of its total 275-lb mass to its payload suite. The first spacecraft mission is named Sindri and carries five pervasive technology experiments and five application-specific experiments as its payload suite. The paper details each of the ten experiments, and the integration challenges each imposes. These payloads include the structure, solar array substrates, an experimental pulse-plasma thruster developed jointly by NASA-Lewis, JPL, and managed by the PL propulsion directorate, as well as micro electromechanical systems, and the first space-based hyper spectral imager based on a Fourier Transform algorithm.
MightySat Phase II: A Low-Cost Orbiting Lab Bench
MightySat Phase II is the second phase of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) multi-mission, small satellite program dedicated to accelerating state-of-the-art space system technologies from the research environment to the user community. Phillips Lab is the USAF center for space technology research and development under the newly established AFRL. The Phase II program provides up to five spacecraft for the laboratory's technology development community to demonstrate space systems technologies important to the USAF, rapidly and inexpensively. This paper focuses on the standard MightySat Phase II vehicle, a very capable small spacecraft under development by Spectrum Astro, Inc. of Gilbert, AZ, the hybrid launch vehicle environment the spacecraft requires, and the first Phase II mission. Each 3-axis stabilized spacecraft dedicates 100-125 lbs of its total 275-lb mass to its payload suite. The first spacecraft mission is named Sindri and carries five pervasive technology experiments and five application-specific experiments as its payload suite. The paper details each of the ten experiments, and the integration challenges each imposes. These payloads include the structure, solar array substrates, an experimental pulse-plasma thruster developed jointly by NASA-Lewis, JPL, and managed by the PL propulsion directorate, as well as micro electromechanical systems, and the first space-based hyper spectral imager based on a Fourier Transform algorithm.
