GALCIT Colloquium

Rapid miniaturization of electronic devices, driven in recent years by the emergence of smartphones, has made many of the key components needed onboard aerospace systems available in very small, low-cost, and light-weight packages. This trend is behind the growing popularity of small consumer "drones," as well as the recent emergence of the "ChipSat" concept – centimeter-scale spacecraft built with the same parts and processes used in the consumer electronics industry.

This talk will focus on pushing the limits of size, mass, and capability in space systems, including novel spacecraft architectures like the printed-circuit-board Sprite spacecraft, control and estimation algorithms tailored for implementation in embedded computing hardware, and low-power communication protocols designed for small satellites that lack the ability to point high-gain antennas. I will discuss several ongoing flight projects to demonstrate these new technologies, including the upcoming KickSat-2 mission that will deploy 100 Sprite spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.