CubeSat for Planetary Science and Exploration Breaking New Grounds Julie Castillo-Rogez, Research Scientist Jet Propulsion Laboratory Copyright 2015 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Classes of Applications Technology Demos Engineering/Ops Science INSPIRE (NASA/JPL MarCO (JPL) Europa CubeSats (NASA – Concepts) Use low-cost spacecraft For example telecom CubeSats that carry for technology testing relays during critical primary science, and validation in relevant operations for lander’s reconnaissance, or environment entry, descent, and opportunistic science landing; to support a investigations; by Human crew at Mars; to themselves or as facilitate teleoperations… daughtership INSPIRE, MarCO, and EM-1 CubeSats as Stepping Stones to Deep Space LEON 3 ‘Sphinx’ X-Band Transponder ‘Iris’ 3 Outline Science Pull for Planetary CubeSats 3U and 6U Planetary CubeSat Landscape Visions for Future Voyages Parting Thoughts Outline Science Pull for Planetary CubeSats NASA Strategic Goals Planetary Science Decadal Survey Priorities Multi-Scale Exploration Fields Science Pull for Planetary CubeSats IAA Planetary CubeSat Study (2015) . Science enablers . Distributed measurements for dynamic processes . Impactor/observer architecture (cooperating assets) . Alternative low-cost architectures . Fractionated payload for system science . High-risk, high-reward observations . Access to unique vantage points . Risk assessment by sacrificial probe . Breaking new grounds . Exploration of uncharted regions Outline Science Pull for Planetary CubeSats 3U and 6U Planetary CubeSat Landscape Science Applications Decadal Science Reconnaissance Pure Exploration LunaH -Map (NASA/ASU) Lunar Flashlight (NASA/JPL/MSFC) OCCAM (JPL – Concept) Addresses science Strategic knowledge gap Pure science exploration tracing from Vision and observations (e.g., of uncharted territories Voyages’ strategic BioSentinel, LF, NEAScout) (e.g., Earth’s Trojan questions (Origins, Reconnaissance prior to clouds), close comet or Habitability, Processes) sampling and landing NEA flyby e.g., LunaH-Map, AOSAT, Cu- (e.g., comet sample return) Cape CubeSat-Based Measurements that have been proposed so far • Fields and particles – Distributed/simultaneous magnetic field measurements – Dust and gas/plume composition – Radiation – Plasma characterization • Atmospheric Science – Distributed atmospheric measurements – Atmospheric composition (noble gases) • Reconnaissance – High-risk site study and reconnaissance (eg caves, landing sites, etc.) – Object characterization – Water search • In-Situ – Elemental, Isotopic & Mineralogical composition – Regolith mechanical properties – Surface dust dynamics State of Small Instruments <0.5 U available ~1 U available Miniaturization In Progress Magnetometer Miniaturization difficult (for science performance expectations) Use in Big Missions in Big Use Philae’s DIM (Dust Impact CSAC (atomic clock) Monitor) JPL’s Technology Demonstration CubeSats via Discovery Secondary Orbiter/Flyby Constellations ~48-72 hour operations with (semi-)autonomous operations and Mothership relay High Resolution Distributed, Simultaneous Particles Ice Prospecting Infrared Proximity Imaging & Fields Measurements Spectrometer Impactors/Landers Hitchhiking Deep Space Nano-Satellite ~48-72 hour surface science operations with mothership localization and relay Mothership-deployed s/c to other interplanetary support destinations Asteroid/Comet Instrumented Phobos Surface Landing w/ Deep Space Navigation & Radio Surface Penetrator Gamma Ray Spectrometer Science Demonstrations Copyright 2015 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.13 Science has to Compete for Resources Deep Space Environment Challenges • Radiations require rad-hard subsystems and extra mass for shielding • Limited power beyond 1 AU impacts operations and science return Instrument volume is limited to 0.5-1 U o Small aperture/sampling drives integration time Long distance is severe limitation to science data retrieval o Data rates beyond the Moon are between 0.5 and 8 kbps o Long downlink times drive thermal issues 14 ?? SCIENCE PERFORMANCE METRICS Payload Sensitivity and Resolution - Scales with instrument size Delta-V - A few 100 m/s to km/s Pointing (control and stability) Loose (fields), up to 7.2 arcsec accuracy, 1 arcsec stability in 1 sec. Position Control – km-scale per radio-tracking; <100m with optical navigation Data Volume - 10s Mb for fields/particles; 100s Mb for geology and chemistry Mission Architectures (1/2) Independent CubeSat LEO Observatory CubeSat at the Moon And Beyond AOSAT (ASU) Lunar IceCube (MSU, GSFC) NEAScout (AES – MSFC/JPL/LaRC/JSC/GSFC) e.g., low-cost, low- e.g., Radiation e.g., physics, chemistry, gravity laboratories, monitoring, search for and processes meteor observatories, water, surface characterization for continuous Jupiter reconnaissance many objects photometry P/L DV Ptg Pos Data P/L DV Ptg Pos Data P/L DV Ptg Pos Data GOALS Near Earth Asteroid Scout Characterize one candidate NEA Marshall Space Flight Center/Jet Propulsion with an imager to address key Lab/LaRC/JSC/GSFC/NASA Strategic Knowledge Gaps (SKGs) One of three 6U Cubesats Demonstrates low cost capability sponsored by Advanced for HEOMD for NEA detection Exploration System, Joint and reconnaissance Robotic Program to fly on SLS EM-1 Measurements: NEA volume, spectral type, spin and orbital properties, address key physical and regolith mechanical SKGs Science Performance of NEAS 6U • Payload introduces IntelliCam • Meets resolution requirement of 10cm/pix at >500m distance • Meets sensitivity requirement to detect H=28 target at >10,000 km distance • Pointing control/stability is met • Pointing knowledge is limited by current technology • 0.5 to 1.7 km/s DV: Will definitely go places!! •Target pool is limited by camera aperture • Biggest limitation is data volume vs power/thermal •Mitigated with operational strategies •Science software to increase data acquisition robustness StrategiesData forHandling Science Imaging with with “Agile Constrained Science” Resources Target Reference stars ACTIVITIES Target Detection and approach Target Reconnaissance with Close Proximity Imaging with wide field imaging medium field imaging Local scale morphology, terrain Ephemeris determination Shape, spin, and local environment properties, landing site survey Downlink rate <1 kbps Short flyby time (<30 min) Short time at closest approach Large target position Uncertain environment (<10 min.) uncertainty Downlink rate <1 kbps past C/A CHALLENGES Autonomous sky scanning sequence Autonomous target pointing and gain setting Image co-adding Thumbnails, triage, lossless compression, subwindowing subwindowing Compression APPROACH Mission Architectures (2/2) Carrier/Relay Mother-Daughter Fractionated Architectures ESPA-Ring Hayabusa-2 and MASCOT Constellation (Concept) NanoSwarm (UCSC/Tyvak) Complementary vantage Distributed sensors for Ring provides most of points; remote vs. in situ field, atmosphere, or the DV and telecom exploration; cooperation system-wide exploration; relay; can reach asteroid for motion planning, etc. constellation networks main belt, potentially Can accommodate for event triangulation outer Solar system; various form factors P/L DV Ptg Pos Data P/L DV Ptg Pos Data P/L DV Ptg Pos Data In Situ Exploration with MASCOT On Hayabusa-2 µOmega MAG MASCOT’s Science Performance Mid-IR thermal Wide Angle Camera sensor Provides geological context • ~10 kg incl. 3 kg payload • Includes hopping mechanism • Lifetime of ~15 hr CAM • Data relay to mothership MARA altitude Home Position 20 km 3-axis fluxgate Imaging Spectrometer Deployment Magnetometer Altitude Regolith mineralogy at m-scale 100 m Remnant mag field Relocation Up-Righting Limited lifetime but efficient operational SDL-Phase On-Surface Operation timeline – will meet focused but important 1 asteroid day objectives to characterize NEO surface 1st Science Cycle D N N D 2nd Science Cycle Outline Science Pull for Planetary CubeSats 3U and 6U Planetary CubeSat Landscape Visions for Future Voyages New Deep Space Tailored CubeSat Subsystems X-Band 0.5m HGA Transponder ‘Iris’ LEON 3 Computer ‘Sphinx’ Hybrid Propulsion Copyright 2015 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. 25 Characterizing Europa’s Deep Ocean Distributed Magnetometer Network at Europa Particle detector (0.5 U) Flux gate magnetometer (0.5 U) • Based on INSPIRE’s design upgraded with electronics vault – fits in 3 U • Life time requirement is < 48 hours • Particle detector is combined with magnetometer and provides additional shielding 27 Landing Site Reconnaissance Explorer CubeSat for Student Involvement in Travels to Europa Attitude control is 10 cm/pix achieved via reaction wheels and thrusters • “Ranger-Style” probe relays images down to 1 km to the surface Pointing < 0.5 deg Best resolution < 10 cm/px • Based on INSPIRE’s design upgraded Impact angle > 70 deg, with electronics vault – fits in 3 U Illumination direction 45-70 deg. • Life time requirement is < 10 hours Comet Volatile Isotopic Composition for Origin Science To obtain a high-precision oxygen isotopic measurement from a Jupiter-family comet Mission to 46P/Wirtanen in December 2018 (<0.1 AU) • WISPER uses a millimeter wave spectrometer (cf. MIRO) • Mission would fly by <1000 km from Wirtanen • Performance requirement exceeded by ~50% Mission Concept - Pre-Decisional – for Planning and Discussion Purposes Only Date Goes Here 31 Outline Science