Rapid Application of Space Effects for the Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) has engaged Military Branches, the Department of Defense, and other Government Agencies in successful partnerships to design, develop, deliver and support various space effects capabilities and space vehicles on timeline of need. Contracts with Industry are in place to execute operational and enabler missions using physical and informational infrastructures including Responsive Manufacturing capabilities and Digital Assurance. The intent is to establish a secure, web-enabled "store front" for ordering and delivering any capabilities required as defined by the users and directed by NASA ARC and Partner Organizations. The capabilities are envisioned to cover a broad range and include 6U CubeSats, 50-100 kg Space Vehicles, Modular Space Vehicle architecture variations, as well as rapid payload integration on various Bus options. The paper will discuss the efforts underway to demonstrate autonomous manufacturing of low-volume, high-value assets, to validate the ability of autonomous digital techniques to provide Mission Assurance, and to demonstrate cost savings through the identification, characterization, and utilization of Responsive Space components. The culmination of this effort will be the integration of several 6U satellites and their launch in 2016

HOW ORS – Modular Space Vehicle on the T2E Mission

With their Modular Space Vehicle (MSV) and Rapid Response Spaceworks (RRSW) awards, the Operationally Responsive Space Office has clearly transitioned from their concept design and socialization phase to the development and implementation phase. The MSV and RRSW contracts, along with the Tier-2 Enabler (T2E) mission they will enable, are now ORS’s top priority. With a clear directive from Congressional and military leadership, ORS will use the T2E mission to exercise their basic philosophy, to develop through contextual application, rather than studies or simulation. Central to the T2E mission will be a calculated gamble that the widely accepted Modular Open-System Approach (MOSA) is the right tool to change the paradigm of space and provide the DoD, as well as their civil, commercial, and international partners, a modular, scalable, and rapidly configurable architecture that can be employed to provide assured space power to the warfighter