Session
Session 4: Delivering Mission Success
Abstract
As a concept, the CubeSat class of satellites is over 15 years old. The first CubeSat satellites were launched in 2003 and a few more in 2006. In recent years, CubeSats have proliferated at an astonishing rate. What started as a largely academic exercise has taken on much greater significance, with commercial entities gearing up to produce vast constellations of the small but capable spacecraft. Amidst all the hype one fact tends to get overlooked: CubeSats do not have a great record of mission success. This presentation provides simple, actionable recommendations that should improve the likelihood of mission success for future CubeSat development projects. The recommendations were gleaned from a study across academic, commercial and government organizations engaged in the design and development of miniature spacecraft. These organizations generously shared their processes, circumstances, results, and lessons learned; they also shared their current processes and philosophies on design, testing, and mission assurance. The results highlighted a number of important themes and issues, all of which formed the basis for the eight recommendations. Most of the recommendations can be tailored and implemented without much cost, and many seem to be common sense—though the study team found that few CubeSat developers followed them all. This paper specifically looks at the research process, the recurring themes and the eight recommendations to improve mission success of CubeSats.
Improving Mission Success of CubeSats
As a concept, the CubeSat class of satellites is over 15 years old. The first CubeSat satellites were launched in 2003 and a few more in 2006. In recent years, CubeSats have proliferated at an astonishing rate. What started as a largely academic exercise has taken on much greater significance, with commercial entities gearing up to produce vast constellations of the small but capable spacecraft. Amidst all the hype one fact tends to get overlooked: CubeSats do not have a great record of mission success. This presentation provides simple, actionable recommendations that should improve the likelihood of mission success for future CubeSat development projects. The recommendations were gleaned from a study across academic, commercial and government organizations engaged in the design and development of miniature spacecraft. These organizations generously shared their processes, circumstances, results, and lessons learned; they also shared their current processes and philosophies on design, testing, and mission assurance. The results highlighted a number of important themes and issues, all of which formed the basis for the eight recommendations. Most of the recommendations can be tailored and implemented without much cost, and many seem to be common sense—though the study team found that few CubeSat developers followed them all. This paper specifically looks at the research process, the recurring themes and the eight recommendations to improve mission success of CubeSats.
