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The Engineering Challenge of the Small Satellite

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The Engineering Challenge of the Small Satellite ERIC J. HOFFMAN LIGHTSATS AND CHEAPSATS: THE ENGINEERING CHALLENGE OF THE SMALL SATELLITE Military interest in survivability and restoration of assets and the dearth of flight opportunities for scientific missions have rekindled interest in small satellites. APL has played a leading role in small-satellite development since the space age began. This article examines the technology areas and management con­ cepts that enable small satellites to perform useful missions. INTRODUCTION America has produced the most sophisticated space excluded altogether, and they may move on to other projects in the world, as exemplified by the shuttle, the fields. NASA has begun to address this problem with Space Telescope, and the Voyager spacecraft. Many of such programs as the recently announced Small-Class our goals in space can be met only with large, complex, Explorer. and, therefore, costly spacecraft. But somewhere along Small satellites also have served an engineering role the way this nation seems to have forgotten the impor­ in the development and verification of new space tech­ tant role played by smaller low-cost systems. Neglect of nology, without putting major programs at risk. Several this resource has contributed to the erosion of our space­ studies (e.g., Ref. 2) have warned of America's eroding technology base, the inefficient use of resources, and a space technology base. By ignoring technology develop­ disturbing reduction in launch opportunities. It has also ment as a legitimate mission, we have been living off left our military vulnerable to the loss of a few key satel­ our past, while other countries catch up and surpass us. lites. Realizing this, DoD, NASA, and the commercial A prime reason has been the limited access to space for sector have recently begun new initiatives to better use testing new technology at low cost and reasonable risk. the potentialities of small low-cost satellites. (A "small" Using small satellites to "build a little, test a little, learn satellite is taken here to mean less than about 500 lb. a lot" allows new technologies to be introduced incre­ "Low cost" is usually, but not always, correlated with mentally and at low cost. At the same time, small satel­ small size and is generally taken to mean less than about lite programs yield training opportunities for young en­ $10 to 20 million. The terms lightsat, cheapsat, and small gineers, thus broadening the nation's base of technically satellite will be used interchangeably here.) competent personnel. APL has specialized in small cost-effective satellites Between the shuttle stand-down and the wait for the since 1959. The 51 satellites we have designed, fabricated, Space Station, America's introduction of new industri­ and launched have ranged from 112 to 1450 Ib, averaging al space applications has virtually come to a halt. Here 255 lb. 1 To perform significant missions with such again, small satellites (including some with small reen­ compact satellites, we have had to learn how to put high try vehicles) could reduce the amount of capital at risk performance into small packages and how to make trade­ and cut the time required for a positive return on in­ offs aplOng low cost, high reliability, and quick reac­ vestment. tion. The renewed attention on small satellites is, there­ Many military space missions demand sophisticated fore, of great interest to APL. satellites, which are necessarily costly, few in number, and tempting high-value targets in wartime. Small, less THE USE OF SMALL SATELLITES sophisticated satellites could, in time of conflict, provide Small satellites have application to scientific, civil, mili­ survivability by proliferation. They could rapidly restore tary, and commercial programs. Historically, low-cost minimum military operations or perhaps launch new op­ spacecraft have allowed for timely and frequent access erations held in reserve for warfare. A constellation of to space for a wide range of scientific researchers to per­ lightsats operating in conjunction with a few larger geo­ form advanced, and sometimes high-risk, experiments. synchronous satellites makes a particularly robust com­ But more recently, concentration on large, complex mis­ bination. A high-level DoD committee3 has concluded sions has led to increased costs and reduced launch op­ that "the Soviets, far more than we, have designed their portunities. These missions must then impose a conserva­ space systems in support of military operations in war­ tive and lengthy selection process that may limit a space time." The Soviets understand the value of replenish­ scientist to participation in only two complete programs ment and apply it to their military space program (or, in the course of a career. More junior scientists may be as Lenin said, "Quantity has a quality all its own. "). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988) 293 Hoffman - Lightsats and Cheapsats: The Engineering Challenge of the Small Satellite Military applications for small satellites include store­ common orbit. Of course, shuttle options must take into and-dump communications, medium-range communica­ account extra design costs associated with man-rated tions, remote imaging, bistatic and distributed radar, lo­ safety requirements. cation and targeting of ground-based signals, intelligence Piggybacking satellites with major payloads is another gathering, data relay for oceanographic and weather option, if the cost burden owing to increased reliability buoys, nodes for C 3 (command, control, and commu­ and quality requirements is kept reasonable; Shuttle sec­ nication) networks, and activation or deactivation of mu­ ondary payloads such as Getaway Specials, the Hitch­ nitions in the field. Lightsats can serve as valuable recon­ hiker pallet, and the free-flying Spartan present other naissance assets for Third World allies involved in low­ opportunities. Two small satellites have already been er intensity conflicts. Small satellites are easy to store launched from Getaway Special canisters, and others are and would be easier to protect on orbit with either de­ being developed (see Fig. 1). coys or stealth techniques. They could be launched from Small Satellite Design mobile, survivable launchers (or from aircraft) and could The path to lightsat begins with mission design. For become operational almost instantly after launch. The a satellite to be small and low in cost, it must have a DoD has begun an active effort, led by the Defense Ad­ focused mission objective, perhaps even a single purpose. vanced Research Projects Agency, to examine the poten­ The payload may consist of only a single instrument or tial military uses of lightsats. 4 a small number of related instruments. Some loss of flex­ PATHS TO THE SMALL SATELLITE SYSTEM ibility must be tolerated. To take full advantage of small satellite systems, four Mission design may exploit "low-cost orbits." Low areas must be addressed: (1) suitable launch vehicles, (2) altitudes can reduce launch costs, allow more weight, the satellites and their payloads, (3) appropriate ground­ increase resolution, reduce RF power, and decrease an­ support systems, and (4) a reexamination of traditional tenna sizes. Polar orbits or the highly elliptical orbits used aerospace management thinking. by Soviet Molniya satellites can often meet coverage re­ quirements without resorting to expensive geostationary Lightsat Launchers satellites. Many lights at concepts involve constellations Typically, about one-half of a new space system's cost of several or even hundreds of satellites. Constellations is transportation-related. Today's high launcher costs dic­ can improve coverage from low altitude and can yield tate longer satellite life, higher reliability, redundant sub­ survivability by proliferation. They degrade gracefully, systems, more and stricter test programs, lengthy sched­ and multiple launching improves the "exchange ratio" ules, and so on up the cost spiral. The development of (that is, it becomes more expensive to destroy a satellite one or more new, low-cost expendable launch vehicles than to launch one). Multiple builds also amortize the (ELVs) for small satellites is, therefore, essential. The design cost and permit volume purchasing and true mass­ ideal ELV would lift 500 to 1000 lb to low earth orbit production techniques. for less than about $8 to 10 million, with insertion errors small enough that satellites would not have to carry ex­ tra propulsion. This is about twice the performance level of the current Scout ELV. The Defense Advanced Re­ search Projects Agency has begun to develop such an ELV through its Standard Small Launch Vehicle Pro­ gram. Another source of low-cost ELV s is the reconfigura­ tion of obsolete strategic missiles, an option that U.S. negotiators should preserve in future force reduction treaties. Conversion of 14 of the 55 available Titan-2s is already underway; each could launch severallightsats at once. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles could like­ wise be modified into attractive ELV s for military use. Delta-class ELVs could launch multiple satellites si­ multaneously, using an appropriate dispenser. The Unit­ ed States has launched as many as 10 at once in the dis­ tant past, and APL-designed Navy Navigation Satellites are currently launched in pairs (one active, one on-orbit spare) on a Scout. Government or private agencies could "broker" multiple launches by assembling manifests of users who can share a common orbit, analogous to the way the Air Force Space Test Program manifests unre­
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