Abstract

For 50 years the morphology or internal makeup of satellites has not fundamentally changed. Major systems and subsystems are combined in the same way whether in the Hubble Space Telescope, a large geostationary communications satellite, or today's Cubesats. The size of elements, components and subsystems may change to accommodate the final satellite, but the fundamental makeup of spacecraft resources of power, propulsion, attitude control, etc. is no different. Today mass has become a proxy in the search for lower cost solutions to accommodate shrinking budgets, but that comes with a requisite consequent exchange of performance. The historical equation of cost as a direct function of mass drives this solution. However, what if this cost-mass-performance equation can be broken? What if these limitations in performance associated with size could be ameliorated or even avoided by the aggregation of …

Date

September 11, 2012

Authors

David Barnhart, Lisa Hill, Margaret Turnbull, Peter Will

Book

AIAA Space 2012 Conference & Exposition

Pages

5262