Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute’s Federated Databases and State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Report

NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Dynamics Laboratory on the development of a small spacecraft parts database called SmallSat Parts On Orbit Now (SPOON). The SPOON database contains small spacecraft parts and technologies categorized by major satellite subsystems developed by industry, academia and government. The State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report reflects small spacecraft parts submitted to the SPOON database and technologies compiled from other sources that were assessed as the current state of the art in each of the major subsystems. The report, first commissioned by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program in mid-2013, is developed in response to the continuing growth in interest in using small spacecraft for many types of missions in Earth orbit and beyond. Due to the high market penetration of CubeSats, particular emphasis is placed on the state of the art of CubeSat-related technology. The 2018 report is planned for release in late summer. A review of SPOON database functionality, federation of additional NASA-internal and external databases along with a common search capability, as well as an overview of the State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report will be presented

A Comparison of the Technological Maturation of SmallSat Propulsion Systems from 2018 to 2020

The maturity in small spacecraft technology is indicated by the continued growth in the number of missions, mission complexity, and the expansion of smallsat subsystem capability. Identified development paths include the consideration of systems and components with flight heritage on larger spacecraft to meet the needs of smaller platforms, the conception of novel technologies specifically designed for small spacecraft, and the incremental improvements every 1-2 years in components where the underlying technology remains unchanged. Progress of overall smallsat technology development is captured in the most recent 2020 State-of-the-Art Small Spacecraft Technology (SoA) report, the objective of which is to assess and provide an overview on the current development status across all subsystem architectures. The SoA report contains a variety of surveys covering device performance, capabilities, and flight history, as presented in publicly available literature. The focus of these surveys is on devices or systems that can be commercially procured or appear on a path towards commercial availability. The work toward the 2020 edition of the report was managed by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) and performed by several contractor staff. The S3VI is jointly funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate. Technological advancement varies across subsystems, and smallsat propulsion technology has had a rapid increase in quantity and type in the last few years that is documented in the SoA report. The extensive efforts made by industry, academia, and government entities to develop and mature small spacecraft propulsive technologies suggest a range of devices with diverse capabilities will become more readily available in near future. While the report uses the NASA Technology Readiness Level scale to measure technical maturity, the “In-Space Propulsion” chapter implemented a novel classification system that recognized Progress towards Mission Infusion (PMI) as an early indicator of the efficacy of the manufacturers’ approach to system maturation and mission infusion. Readers of this paper are highly encouraged to refer to the “In-Space Propulsion” chapter for further information on the PMI classifications. A driving trend captured in the SoA report is that smallsat missions are becoming more complex in the anticipation of using smallsats to collect lunar and deep space science. Smallsat propulsive technology must mature operationally to meet the needs of the increasing smallsat mission complexity. This paper will expand upon the progression of technical maturation identified in the “In-Space Propulsion” chapter presented in the 2020 report and compare these developmental achievements to the “Propulsion” chapter in the 2018 SoA report. By making these comparisons, the reader will be able to measure the degree of advancement in smallsat propulsion technology that has been made in the last few years, understand the specific development approaches propulsion engineers encounter, and learn about the current trends in smallsat propulsion

Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute's Federated Databases and State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology Report

NASA's Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Dynamics Laboratory on the development of a small spacecraft parts database called SmallSat Parts On Orbit Now (SPOON). The SPOON database contains small spacecraft parts and technologies categorized by major satellite subsystems developed by industry, academia and government. The State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report reflects small spacecraft parts submitted to the SPOON database and technologies compiled from other sources that were assessed as the current state of the art in each of the major subsystems. The report, first commissioned by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program in mid-2013, is developed in response to the continuing growth in interest in using small spacecraft for many types of missions in Earth orbit and beyond. Due to the high market penetration of CubeSats, particular emphasis is placed on the state of the art of CubeSat-related technology. The 2018 report is planned for release in late summer. A review of SPOON database functionality, federation of additional NASA-internal and external databases along with a common search capability, as well as an overview of the State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report will be presented. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate

Cost-Effective Icy Bodies Exploration using Small Satellite Missions

It has long been known that Saturn's moon Enceladus is expelling water-rich plumes into space, providing passing spacecraft with a window into what is hidden underneath its frozen crust. Recent discoveries indicate that similar events could also occur on other bodies in the solar system, such as Jupiter's moon Europa and the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt. These plumes provide a possible giant leap forward in the search for organics and assessing habitability beyond Earth, stepping stones toward the long-term goal of finding extraterrestrial life. The United States Congress recently requested mission designs to Europa, to fit within a cost cap of $1B, much less than previous mission designs' estimates. Here, innovative cost-effective small spacecraft designs for the deep-space exploration of these icy worlds, using new and emerging enabling technologies, and how to explore the outer solar system on a budget below the cost horizon of a flagship mission, are investigated. Science requirements, instruments selection, rendezvous trajectories, and spacecraft designs are some topics detailed. The mission concepts revolve around a comparably small-sized and low-cost Plume Chaser spacecraft, instrumented to characterize the vapor constituents encountered on its trajectory. In the event that a plume is not encountered, an ejecta plume can be artificially created by a companion spacecraft, the Plume Maker, on the target body at a location timed with the passage of the Plume Chaser spacecraft. Especially in the case of Ceres, such a mission could be a great complimentary mission to Dawn, as well as a possible future Europa Clipper mission. The comparably small volume of the spacecraft enables a launch to GTO as a secondary payload, providing multiple launch opportunities per year. Plume Maker's design is nearly identical to the Plume Chaser, and fits within the constraints for a secondary payload launch. The cost-effectiveness of small spacecraft missions enables the exploration of multiple solar system bodies in reasonable timeframes despite budgetary constraints, with only minor adaptations. The work presented here is a summary of concepts targeting icy bodies, such as Europa and Ceres, which have been developed over the last year at NASA Ames Research Center's Mission Design Division. The platforms detailed in this work are also applicable to the cost-effective exploration of many other small icy bodies in the solar system

State of the Art: Small Spacecraft Technology

This report provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art of small spacecraft technology, with particular emphasis placed on the state-of-the-art of CubeSat-related technology. It was first commissioned by NASAs Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) in mid-2013 in response to the rapid growth in interest in using small spacecraft for many types of missions in Earth orbit and beyond, and was revised in mid-2015 and 2018. This work was funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). For the sake of this assessment, small spacecraft are defined to be spacecraft with a mass less than 180 kg. This report provides a summary of the state-of-the-art for each of the following small spacecraft technology domains: Complete Spacecraft, Power, Propulsion, Guidance Navigation and Control, Structures, Materials and Mechanisms, Thermal Control, Command and Data Handling, Communications, Integration, Launch and Deployment, Ground Data Systems and Operations, and Passive Deorbit Devices

Relational persons and relational processes: developing the notion of relationality for the sociology of personal life

The concept of relationality has recently found widespread favour in British sociology, particularly in the emergent sub-field of the sociology of personal life, which is characterised by its attachment to the concept. However, this ‘relational turn’ is under-theorized and pays little attention to the substantial history of relational thinking across the human sciences. This paper argues that the notion of relationality in the sociology of personal life might be strengthened by an exploration of the conceptualization of the relational person and relational processes offered by three bodies of literature: the process oriented thinking of American pragmatism, specifically of Mead and Emirbayer; the figurational sociology of Elias; and psychoanalysis, particularly the object relations tradition, contemporary relational psychoanalysis and Ettinger’s notion of transubjectivity. The paper attends particularly to the processes involved in the individuality, agentic reflexivity and affective dimensions of the relational person

The Orbital Design of Alpha Centauri Exoplanet Satellite (ACESat)

The existence of an Earth-like exoplanet is of particular interest to the science community and would alter the world’s view on life in the universe. There are three major requirements for Earth-like exoplanets: size, temperature and the presence of an atmosphere. The exoplanet should be between 0.5 to 1.5 earth radii and located within the habitable zone of its host star. Spectral measurements can detect biomarkers (such as oxygen) in the atmosphere, potentially indicating an active ecosystem. There are missions to illustrate the existence of such an exoplanet (Kepler and TESS); however they do not measure spectra and these observed planets are too far away for biomarkers to be detectable with foreseeable technology. Currently planned instruments, which utilize transit spectroscopy, such as JWST, are statistically unlikely to have a transiting Earth-like planet close enough to detect biomarkers in its spectrum. A (non-transiting) Earth-like planet must be directly imaged for an atmosphere to be established and to understand the elemental composition. A coronagraph is a device capable of directly imaging a habitable Earth-like planet by blocking out the light of the host star. Current mission concepts such as WFIRST/AFT are being funded by NASA to improve this technology, but are not designed to image Earth-like planets. The closest star system, Alpha Centauri, is estimated to be between a 40-50% chance of having a habitable Earth-like planet around each star according to some of the most recent analyses of Kepler data, and is the easiest place to search for habitable Earth-like planets due to its proximity to us. This has motivated the study and design of a coronagraph to look for habitable Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri by Rus Belikov and Eduardo Bendek, called ACESat

Small Satellite Mission Concept to Image Earth-like Planets around Alpha Centauri

The scientific interest in directly image and identifying Earth-like planets within the Habitable Zone (HZ) around nearby stars is driving the design of specialized direct imaging mission such as ACESAT, EXO-C, EXO-S and AFTA-C. The inner edge of Alpha Cen A&B Habitable Zone is found at exceptionally large angular separations of 0.7” and 0.4” respectively. This enables direct imaging of the system with a 0.3m class telescope. Contrast ratios in the order of 1010 are needed to image Earth-brightness planets. Low-resolution (5-band) spectra of all planets, will allow establishing the presence and amount of an atmosphere. This star system configuration is optimal for a specialized small, and stable space telescope, that can achieve high-contrast but has limited resolution. This paper describes an innovative instrument design and a mission concept based on a full Silicon Carbide off-axis telescope, which has a Phase Induce Amplitude Apodization coronagraph embedded in the telescope. This architecture maximizes stability and throughput. A Multi-Star Wave Front algorithm is implemented to drive a deformable mirror controlling simultaneously diffracted light from the on-axis and binary companion star. The instrument has a Focal Plane Occulter to reject starlight into a high-precision pointing control camera. Finally we utilize a Orbital Differential Imaging (ODI) post-processing method that takes advantage of a highly stable environment (Earthtrailing orbit) and a continuous sequence of images spanning 2 years, to reduce the final noise floor in post processing to ~2e-11 levels, enabling high confidence and at least 90% completeness detections of Earth-like planets

Selected Issues of Criminal Proceedings against a Legal Entity

Selected Issues of Criminal Proceedings against a Legal Entity Abstract As the name implies, this work deals with selected issues of criminal proceedings against a legal entity. In the presented work, the author aims to draw attention to some difficulties that may arise in criminal proceedings due to the typical nature of legal entities, and to the selected institute of criminal procedural law comparison of the application of principles of criminal proceedings between natural person and legal entities. In fact, the initial problem may be that the current criminal law relating to legal entities is launched briefly. Therefore, this work reflects the current special legislation governing criminal proceedings against legal entities in the sense of Act No. 418/2011 Coll., of criminal liability of legal entities and proceedings against them, applying the relationship of subsidiarity to the general legislation of criminal procedural law, namely Act No. 141/1961 Coll., of Criminal Procedure. At first, the author briefly addresses the question of whether the principles of criminal proceedings apply to criminal proceedings against a legal entity. For the purposes of further formulation of this work, the author simultaneously discusses in the first chapter the principle of equality before the law. In other parts of..