TY - GEN
T1 - A review of impending small satellite formation flying missions
AU - Bandyopadhyay, Saptarshi
AU - Subramanian, Giri P.
AU - Foust, Rebecca
AU - Morgan, Daniel
AU - Chung, Soon Jo
AU - Hadaegh, Fred Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr. Tom Cwik for his guidance and constructive comments. The authors would also like to thank D. Hanley, J. Puig, and H.-B. Yoon for their valuable inputs. This work was supported by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist Space Technology Research Fellowship Program. Government sponsorship is acknowledged. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Small satellites, like popular nanosatellite platforms called CubeSats, are suitable for formation ying missions because of their modular nature and low cost. This paper presents a review of thirty-nine missions, using multiple small satellites, in various stages of development. These missions are categorized based on their mission type, mission status, number of satellites, leading organization, funding source, and requirement for constellation or formation ying. We conclude that Earth science related missions are the most popular, while most multi-satellite missions only require a constellation. Although six missions aim to demonstrate formation ying capability in space using two to three small satellites, there are currently only two formation ying missions planning to use four or more small satellites.
AB - Small satellites, like popular nanosatellite platforms called CubeSats, are suitable for formation ying missions because of their modular nature and low cost. This paper presents a review of thirty-nine missions, using multiple small satellites, in various stages of development. These missions are categorized based on their mission type, mission status, number of satellites, leading organization, funding source, and requirement for constellation or formation ying. We conclude that Earth science related missions are the most popular, while most multi-satellite missions only require a constellation. Although six missions aim to demonstrate formation ying capability in space using two to three small satellites, there are currently only two formation ying missions planning to use four or more small satellites.
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U2 - 10.2514/6.2015-1623
DO - 10.2514/6.2015-1623
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84982986791
SN - 9781624103438
T3 - 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting
BT - 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting
PB - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
T2 - 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, 2015
Y2 - 5 January 2015 through 9 January 2015
ER -