The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of significantly reducing the time and costs to develop, integrate, manifest and fly a variety of small experiments or payloads, i.e., show the feasibility of flying small payloads in < 1year for < $1M. The opportunities and means for… More

Innovative and beneficial, commercial, scientific, educational, meteorological, and military space systems are suffering from a lack of technology insertion because their projects cannot afford the high costs and long delays prevalent in modern satellite production. Responsive Space access for small… More

Responsive Space goals include the ability to design, fabricate, and launch a small tactical satellite in 7 days. One required enabling technology is a framework with which to define and assemble standard components from mission requirements. The focus of this research effort is the definition of a… More

Addressing the needs of the Responsive Space initiative requires a seamless integrated tool capability, particularly when applied to meet the most challenging case of the "six day satellite" concept, where mission objectives are reduced to a satellite configuration and the spacecraft is assembled,… More

Developing a more efficient and capable decision support system for defensive counterspace can be accomplished in part by implementing several core capabilities at the space platform level. Threat detection, identification, and response implemented in autonomy on individual spacecraft allows each… More

This research work will produce an innovative Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system design that can support both heritage satellite components and the new power compatible plug-and-play (PnP) methodology. The proposed PMAD system design will support a significant range of power… More

Design_Net Engineering will develop an "Application Configurable Radiation Hardened Processor/Memory Node" for use in high end control, sensor processing, and sensor fusion applications. DNet will build on an existing design developed under other MDA and AFRL contracts, add the Wafer Scale Signal… More

Design_Net Engineering is developing a modular, configurable network-resident data storage module called the Intelligent Data Store (IDS). The IDS was developed to serve as a stock component in an Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) depot, where it can be rapidly pulled from the shelf and placed on… More

Developing a more efficient and capable decision support system for defensive counterspace can be accomplished in part by adopting autonomous operations approaches to the management of individual satellites platforms and allowing tactical satellites in a constellation to employ "cooperative… More

This research work will culminate in an innovative Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system design, operational software, a Plug and Play (PnP) Li Ion battery, and the radiation hardened components that support the new Space PnP Avionics (SPA) methodology for responsive spacecraft. The system… More

A repeating topic in aerospace discussion forums is the ever-increasing reliance on space assets to support our national infrastructure. Their vulnerability has led to significant discussion about how to facilitate better situational awareness and protection of these assets. As the space environment… More

DNet has been actively pursuing strategies for shortening the software development portion of the satellite development life-cycle for some time. We recognized upon analyzing the constituents of the traditional process that a disproportionate fraction of time is spent working with software that… More

Access to space for Small Satellites is enabled by the use of excess launch capacity on existing launch vehicles. A range of sizes, form factors and masses need to be accommodated. An integration process that minimizes programmatic/technical risk to the primary, allows "late flow" integration and… More

The integrated design centers currently in place at the Goddard and Ames research institutions are highly productive infrastructures, allowing a group of domain specialists to rally for intense, focused intervals of time around a mission concept, refining a design in spiral fashion using a palette… More

It takes up to 10 years to design, build and launch a satellite system. The satellite system reflects the 10-year-old (or more) outdated, inflexible technology and mission needs that may no longer be applicable to the tactics and geography of today's evolving conflicts. These new conflicts create… More

Access to space for Small Satellites is enabled by the use of excess launch capacity on existing launch vehicles. A range of sizes, form factors and masses of small sats need to be accommodated. An integration process that minimizes programmatic/technical risk to the primary, allows "late flow"… More

Access to space for Small Satellites is enabled by the use of excess launch capacity. An integration process that minimizes risk to the primary, allows parallel integration and predictable cost/schedule for the secondary enables use of that capacity. Design_Net has developed and flown a Falcon 1… More

ABSTRACT: Next generation highly autonomous space vehicles need certain key technologies in order to achieve their promised goals. Much time is spent in mission planning working out the details of daily activities of space vehicle so as to assure adequate power/energy margin. The more autonomous… More

ABSTRACT: A key problem in the rapid and lower cost development of spacecraft is that the various devices that comprise the spacecraft bus do not typically provide a single standard interface and/or communications protocols. This forces a design-to-order paradigm in which a spacecraft bus is… More