Bringing Deep Space Missions Within Reach for Small Spacecraft

There is growing interest in using small spacecraft for science and exploration beyond low Earth orbit, but these missions have been constrained to fly as secondary payloads on rideshare missions that launch infrequently and on less-than-ideal trajectories. Regular, dedicated, low-cost science missions to planetary destinations can be enabled by Rocket Lab’s high-ΔV small spacecraft, the high-energy Photon, supporting expanding opportunities for scientists and increasing the rate of science return. High-energy Photon can launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle to precisely target escape asymptotes for planetary small spacecraft missions with payload masses up to ~40 kg without the need for a medium or heavy lift launch vehicle. High-energy Photon can also fly as a secondary payload on an EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) Grande port or on other launch vehicles, like Neutron. This paper describes planetary small spacecraft currently in development that leverage Rocket Lab’s deep space capabilities, including missions to the Moon, Venus, and Mars. The high-energy Photon will be demonstrated on the NASA Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, launching in 2021. CAPSTONE is expected to be the first spacecraft to operate in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, with high-energy Photon delivering NASA’s 12U technology demonstration CubeSat on a Ballistic Lunar Transfer using a phasing orbit approach. The CAPSTONE high-energy Photon will launch on Electron. While NASA performs the primary mission, Rocket Lab plans to execute a secondary mission to demonstrate the high-energy Photon deep space operations capabilities with a lunar flyby. Rocket Lab has also made the engineering and financial commitment to fly a private mission to Venus in 2023 to help answer the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” The mission will deploy a small probe into the atmosphere in search of biomarkers. The mission is planned for launch in May 2023 on Electron from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-1. The mission will follow a hyperbolic trajectory with the high-energy Photon performing as the cruise stage and then as a communications relay after deploying a small probe for the science phase of the mission. In early 2021, Rocket Lab was awarded a contract for the preliminary design of two Photon spacecraft for the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission. ESCAPADE is a twin-spacecraft science mission that will orbit a pair of spacecraft around Mars to understand the structure, composition, variability, and dynamics of Mars\u27 unique hybrid magnetosphere. After launch as secondary payloads on a commercial launch vehicle provided by NASA, the two spacecraft will each execute a series of burns with the Hyper Curie engine to prepare for and execute the Trans-Mars Injection (TMI), perform an 11-month interplanetary cruise with several trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs), and then perform the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) burns to insert into elliptical orbits around Mars. ESCAPADE is undergoing a NASA preliminary design review and a confirmation review in the summer of 2021 to evaluate whether the mission proceeds to implementation and flight

The FIREBIRD Instrument for Relativistic Electrons: Enabling Technologies for a Fast High-Sensitivity, Low-Power Space Weather Radiation Payload

Miniaturized instrument payloads on small satellite and nanosatellite platforms that are deployed in low Earth orbit are demonstrating cost effective weather monitoring platforms with increased temporal and spatial resolution compared to larger weather satellites. The NASA Earth Decadal Survey [1] states that improving the revisit time of microwave radiometers would significantly improve weather forecasting. Radiometers such as the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), now NOAA-20, provide an average revisit rate of 7.6 hours; however, a constellation of six CubeSats in three orbital Low Earth Orbit (LEO) planes with microwave radiometers such as the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitations structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission would provide a refresh rate of better than 60 minutes. In order to effectively use CubeSats in a constellation as a weather monitoring platform, calibration must be used to provide measurements consistent with state of the art measurements, such as ATMS that has a NeDT at 300K of 0.5-3.0K [2]. In this work, we use the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) to simulate brightness temperatures (https://www.jcsda.noaa.gov/projects_crtm.php), which are used to assess miniaturized microwave radiometer radiometric biases. CRTM is a fast radiative transfer model that uses Fortran functions, structure variables, and coefficient data of the modeled sensor to simulate radiances. The user inputs surface characteristics, scan angles, and atmospheric profiles from sources such as radiosondes, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, and Global Positioning System Radio Occultation (GPSRO) measurements. The output of CRTM is a simulated brightness temperature that is used to correct radiometric biases in order to meet required instrument NeDT performance. We use radiosonde, GPSRO, and NWP ERA-5 atmospheric profiles in CRTM and compare the results to ATMS brightness temperatures and find an average difference in brightness temperature of 1.95 K, which is comparable to ATMS Integrated Calibration/Validation System (https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/icvs/status_NPP_ATMS.php) reports which show channel bias variations of up to 2 K. We take a similar approach to provide calibration for the Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite-2A (MicroMAS-2A), a 3U CubeSat that was launched on January 11th, 2018. MicroMAS-2A carries a 1U 10-channel passive microwave radiometer that provides imagery near 90 and 206 GHz, temperature sounding near 118 GHz, and moisture sounding near 183 GHz. We develop an approach for comparing MicroMas-2A brightness temperatures to radiosonde, GPSRO, and NWP ERA5 atmospheric profiles. Due to the scarcity of GPSRO and radiosonde profiles near the MicroMAS-2A data segments, we determine that NWP models will be the best option for radiance validation. After the next stage of calibration of MicroMAS-2A is completed, we will compare CRTM simulated radiances from ERA profiles to the initial sensor data, with expected results of channel bias variations of \u3c 2 K

Simultaneous Multi-Point Space Weather Measurements using the Low Cost EDSN CubeSat Constellation

The ability to simultaneously monitor spatial and temporal variations in penetrating radiation above the atmosphere is important for understanding both the near Earth radiation environment and as input for developing more accurate space weather models. Due to the high variability of the ionosphere and radiation belts, producing such a data product must be done using high density multi-point measurements. The most recent solar and space physics decadal survey states that these measurement densities have the potential to be provided by CubeSat constellations. The primary scientific purpose of the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission is to demonstrate that capability by launching and deploying a fleet of eight CubeSats into a loose formation approximately 500 km above Earth. The Energetic Particle Integrating Space Environment Monitor (EPISEM) payload on EDSN will characterize the radiation environment in low-earth orbit (LEO) by measuring the location and intensity of energetic charged particles simultaneously over a geographically dispersed area. This is made possible because the EPISEM samples are acquired from across the dispersed constellation of eight EDSN spacecraft. This paper describes the fabrication approach of this miniaturized radiation detection instrument and operational considerations unique to constellation missions of this class. Collection timelines and data return models will be provided for the initial 60 day lifetime and a possible extended mission. The EPISEM payload was specifically designed for CubeSats; leveraging heritage from the payload operating aboard Montana State University’s Hiscock Radiation Belt Explorer (HRBE), launched in October 2011. The EDSN project is based at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, and is funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) in NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) at NASA Headquarters, Washington. The EDSN satellites are planned to fly late 2013 as secondaries on a DoD Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) mission that will launch into space from Kauai, Hawaii on a Super Strypi launch vehicle. The EPISEM payload was designed, built, tested, and delivered to NASA Ames by the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory at Montana State University

Rocket Lab Mission to Venus

Regular, low-cost Decadal-class science missions to planetary destinations will be enabled by high-ΔV small spacecraft, such as the high-energy Photon, and small launch vehicles, such as Electron, to support expanding opportunities for scientists and to increase the rate of science return. The Rocket Lab mission to Venus is a small direct entry probe planned for baseline launch in May 2023 with accommodation for a single ~1 kg instrument. A backup launch window is available in January 2025. The probe mission will spend about 5 min in the Venus cloud layers at 48–60 km altitude above the surface and collect in situ measurements. We have chosen a low-mass, low-cost autofluorescing nephelometer to search for organic molecules in the cloud particles and constrain the particle composition

Flight System Technologies Enabling the Twin-CubeSat FIREBIRD-II Scientific Mission

Recent technological developments have enabled a CubeSat-based targeted science investigation to unravel a mysterious process that results in the Earth being bombarded by relativistic electrons. The Focused Investigations of Relativistic Electron Burst Intensity, Range, and Dynamics (FIREBIRD) mission is an-NSF funded collaboration carried out by Montana State University, the University of New Hampshire, The Aerospace Corporation and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Four satellites were placed into low Earth orbit in pairs on December 6, 2013 (FIREBIRD-I) and January 31, 2015 (FIREBIRD-II) as auxiliary payloads under NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. Enabling technologies carried on the twin FIREBIRD-II CubeSats include Vanguard Space Technologies, Inc. high-efficiency body-mounted solar panels affixed to the four 10x15 cm sidewalls of each 1.5U CubeSat. These solar panels provide energy to a custom MSU-designed-and-built electrical power system that includes two 2600mAh Li-Ion cells with integrated battery protection circuitry. Each spacecraft carried GPS receivers enabling precise timing and position information necessary for science operations. These technologies together with Montana State’s custom avionics and operations software (built upon L-3’s In-Control package) enabled exciting, unique, and insightful measurements of the near-Earth radiation environment to unravel the spatio-temporal ambiguities of relativistic electron bursts previously observed only by single spacecraft. Without these technologies the mission would not have been possible utilizing CubeSat-class spacecraft measuring merely 15x10x10 cm

3D Printing and MEMS Propulsion for the RAMPART 2U CUBESAT

A volunteer consortium of the individuals and organizations listed on the title page of this document is using rapid prototyping and MEMS technologies to design and build a 2U RAMPART CUBESAT (RApidprototypedMemsPropulsionAndRadiationTest CUBEflowSATellite). f being manifested on a Falcon 1e launch. The flight of this satellite is intended to certify warm gas propulsion subsystems and magnetic stabilization for Cubesat orbital altitude adjustment, as well as rapid prototyping methods of building one-piece satellite structures, propellant tanks, printed circuit board cages, erectable solar panels, antenna deployment mechanisms, etc. at a fraction of the cost of current methods. Design revisions are being accommodated with a minimum of effort, time and expense. New laser-sintered materials with improved mechanical and thermal properties are being adapted for space use from the Formula 1 Racing field. Polymer sealants and metal platings have been utilized on surfaces inside and outside the satellite to eliminate outgassing and to aid in thermal management. This paper describes the use of these techniques to design-print-fly a 2U Cubesat that will raise its own apogee altitude to 1200 km, just below the equatorial inner Van Allen Radiation Belt, following deployment from its launch vehicle into an initial 450km circular orbit with an inclination of 45 deg. The satellite will measure incident energetic particle flux, together with the performance of new, improved radiation-hardened Cubeflow components and circuits and high-performance solar cells and cover glasses in that enhanced radiation environment, and telemeter those measurements to a redundant international ground station network

ESCAPADE: A Twin-Spacecraft Simplex Mission to Unveil Mars' Unique Hybrid Magnetosphere

International audienceCan you really send two capable scientific spacecraft to Mars for <$80 million? ESCAPADE, launching in 2024, will test this hypothesis

ESCAPADE: A Twin-Spacecraft Simplex Mission to Unveil Mars' Unique Hybrid Magnetosphere

International audienceCan you really send two capable scientific spacecraft to Mars for <$80 million? ESCAPADE, launching in 2024, will test this hypothesis