NASA Perspectives on Cubesats and Highlighted Activities
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NASA perspectives on Cubesats and Highlighted Activities Briefing to Committee on Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats NRC/Space Studies Board David Pierce SMD June 22, 2015 Mike Seablom SMD Andrew Petro STMD Anne Sweet Launch Services Jason Crusan HEOMD/CSLI William Horne HEOMD/SCaN NRC/SSB CubeSat Briefing Agenda • NASA CubeSat Activities • NASA’s Perspective for CubeSats • Support to the CubeSat Community –Launch Services (HEOMD/CSLI) –Communications (HEOMD/SCaN) –Value-added mission support • Technology – STMD • Science – SMD • Advocacy and Partnerships • Addressing Requested Questions • Summary 6/22/15 October 27, 2011 2 NASA CubeSat Activities NASA promotes CubeSat activities in the U.S. through management and close coordination of its program elements, to include: • Conducting Earth and Space science investigations, and developing precursor instrument technologies for future science Small Satellite measurements. (SMD) Technology • Developing and demonstrating new small spacecraft technologies Program / STMD and capabilities for NASA’s missions in science, exploration and space operations. (STMD) • Fostering Innovation across NASA/community. (STMD) • Providing launch opportunities to the U.S. CubeSat Community (academia, government, and non-profits). (HEOMD) Scientific • Sponsoring missions to address strategic knowledge gaps for Research / SMD exploration. (HEOMD) • Coordinating frequency management and licensing for all NASA related missions. (HEOMD-SCaN) • Maintaining critical competencies at NASA Centers and providing Access to Space hands-on experience for the NASA workforce. (All) - CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) • Promoting strategic partnerships and value – added services. HEOMD • Promoting STEM and inspiring students through hands-on student flight research missions (All) 6/22/15 3 NASA’s Perspective for CubeSats NASA recognizes the value of CubeSats as platforms for technology demonstration and hands-on training, and sees they offer the potential to address essential science goals. SMD views cubesats as scalable platforms, from “suborbital-class” (sub- Class D) to flight project (Class D) platforms, enabling: • Quick access to space for timely science measurements and to “fill the gap” for continuity of measurements between large flight projects. • Flight demonstrations to mature technologies for infusion into mission- level programs • Cubesats are small enough for the university researcher and fast enough for students to complete all phases of a project during their school career. NASA wants to foster an environment of innovation for CubeSats, and wants insight into what near term investments are needed to ensure science value from CubeSats as a platform. 6/22/15 4 Payload - Cost / SMA Continuum SMD CubeSat SMD Project Mgmt: Special Project Mgmt: Flight Projects 7120.8 SMD Projects Class 7120.5 SMA Class: D- Suborbital SMA Class: D Investigations Project Mgmt: months 7120.5 Project Mgmt: SMA Class: D,C,B, A 7120.8 weeks 1-2 years No Recovery SMA Class: E $10M <Cost: < $60M 6 weeks 2 years w/ Payload Visibility: moderate Recovery Cost: > $60M Visibility: high Cost: < $10M Visibility: Low 5 years KEY No Recovery 20 minutes Suborbital Special Projects Flight Projects 6/22/15 5 NASA Centers Innovation Laboratories for Small Satellites NASA is leveraging Center/JPL-led investments from IR&D and Center Innovation Funds • These opportunities enable testbeds PharmaSat for small satellites in an open, innovative environment • Projects are managed under Firefly technology procedural requirements, avoiding cumbersome flight project PhoneSat regulations • Center investments provide a springboard for teams to propose to higher-valued science and technology solicitations CSUNSat1 6/22/15 6 6 The Vision for Hands-On Training “In my career as a scientist, astronaut, NASA's Chief Scientist, and AA/SMD, I often reflect back on the strength of the foundation upon which I was trained.” Suborbital (including CubeSats) projects provide students with the complete scientific experience, going from concept to hardware, observations, and scientific analysis of the results. All in a short time frame commensurate with their studies. These platforms not only enable quality John M. Grunsfeld science/technology investigations, but AA/SMD, Astronaut are also crucial as a training ground for the Scientists/Engineers who will be the project leaders of tomorrow. 6/22/15 7 NASA is providing launch services for funded cubesat missions Launches at no cost to project through Cubesat Launch Initiative - available to all NASA and other government sponsored cubesats also to educational institutions and non-profits through competition based on merit and relevance ISS Deployments using commercial Nanoracks and JAXA deployers - agreement with Nanoracks allows 3U for NASA out of each 48U Some NASA-sponsored cubesat missions purchase commercial launch and integration services due to prior agreements, urgency, or special needs. Launch opportunities for 11 Cubesats (6U) during the July 2018 Space Launch System/Exploration Mission-1. 6/22/15 8 CubeSat Launch Initiative NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) provides launch opportunities to educational, non-profit organizations and NASA Centers who build small satellite payloads that fly as auxiliary payloads on previously planned or commercial missions or as International Space Station deployments. NASA DoD ISS NRO 6/22/15 9 How It Works? NASA Announcement of Opportunity • NASA solicits proposals through an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) • Educational Organizations, Non-Profits and NASA Centers submit proposed CubeSat Missions in response to AO NASA Review • A NASA Selection Committee made up of members of HEOMD (including the Launch Services Program), Space Technology Mission Directorate, Science Mission Directorate, and Education reviews proposals • Selection Committee makes final recommendations on CubeSats • NASA announces selection recommendations Selectees Develop/Design/Build CubeSat • Selectee builds satellite • Selectee raises all funds necessary for satellite construction • Selectee provides NASA completed satellite for integration for launch NASA Assigns CubeSats to Manifested Launches • NASA manifests CubeSat on available flights using excess lift capacity • Cooperative Research and Development Agreement executed by NASA 6/22/15 10 Post Selection CubeSats are Developed/Designed/Built CubeSats are (Students) placed in P-POD P-POD is integrated on the Launch Vehicle (LV) Mission Launches Deployment spring and pusher plate Signal Sent to LV, Students or Center track spring-loaded door is CubeSat burns up on open, CubeSats deployed Students or Center analyze and operate CubeSat from re-entry after completion Ground Station data, write technical of mission papers, provide results and data to NASA 6/22/15 11 Measures Of Success # # # # # % Launched & CSLI Call # Proposals Adjusted Available Manifested Launched Manifested Received Selected Manifest 1st Selection 6 4 4 4 100% CSLI - I 16 16 16 1 15 100% CSLI - 2 25 12 11 1 10 92% CSLI - 3 33 25 14 7 7 56% CSLI - 4 34 19 7 4 1 26% CSLI - 5 22 16 2 2 0 13% CSLI - 6 22 13 1 0 0 0% 158 105 55 15 37 50% • Adjusted Selected - After adjustments made to selected CubeSats from recent survey of selectees, along with CubeSats chosen to fill open slots. • Available to Manifest – CubeSats ready for final testing and integration; typically launch occurs ~ 9 months after the Available to Manifest date. • Note: Of payloads ready to be manifested, 95% are launched or manifested 6/22/15 12 Missions Launched CubeSat Primary CubeSat Launch Date PPODs Spacecraft Mission Mission Missions ELaNa-I Glory Mar 4, 2011 1 3 3 ELaNa-II NROL-39* Dec 5, 2013 2 5 4 ELaNa-III NPP Oct 28, 2011 3 6 5 ELaNa-IV ORS-3* Nov 19, 2013 4 11 11 ELaNa-V CRS SpX-3 Mar 16, 2014 4 5 5 ELaNa-VI NROL-36* Sep 13, 2012 3 4 4 ELaNa-VIII ORB-3 Oct 21, 2014 Nanoracks 1 1 ELaNa-X SMAP Jan 30, 2015 3 4 3 ELaNa-XI AFSPC-5 May 20, 2015 1 1 1 TOTAL Launched 37 * Consistent with the National Space Policy of 2010, NASA has agreements with the national security space community to leverage our respective launch capabilities. 6/22/15 13 Manifest Schedule CubeSat Primary NET Launch Date PPODs CubeSats Mission Mission ELaNa-VII ORS-4* Jan 2016 2 2 ELaNa-XII NROL-55* Sept 25, 2015 2 4 ELaNa-IX ORB-4 Nov 19, 2015 Nanoracks 3 ELaNa-XIII FORMOSAT-5 FY 2016 2 ELaNa-XIV JPSS-1 FY 2017 3 2 ELaNa-XV STP-2 FY 2016 2 TOTAL Manifested 15 * Consistent with the National Space Policy of 2010, NASA has agreements with the national security space community to leverage our respective launch capabilities. 6/22/15 14 Deep-space CubeSats: SLS EM-1 Secondary Payloads SLS can accommodate 11 6U payloads on EM-1 Commitments to Date: EM-1 Schedule • AES CubeSats • Payload Interface Agreement: September, 2015 • Payload Delivery to KSC: February 1, 2018 – BioSentinel • SLS/EM-1 Launch Date: July 15, 2018 – Lunar Flashlight Accommodations for secondary CubeSat payloads – NEA Scout on the adapter between the Space Launch System • NextSTEP BAA Awardeesupper stage and the Orion spacecraft. – Lockheed Martin Skyfire CubeSat – Morehead State University’s Lunar IceCube • STMD Centennial Challenges initiated in November 2014 • Science Mission Directorate – Heliophysics solicited through stand-alone announcement of opportunity • Proposals assessed for alignment with Heliophysics Decadal survey • 2 selected for further study (communication link analysis). • Down-Select to 1 mission (June, 2015) – Planetary Sciences solicited announcement of