SRI International and the University of Michigan Awarded National Science Foundation Contract to Build CubeSats for Space Science
Menlo Park, Calif. —October 1, 2008 - SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, announced today it has been awarded a contract from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with the University of Michigan. The contract supports a recent program launched by the NSF to use CubeSats, which are small satellites, typically a 10 centimeter cube weighing about one kilogram used for science missions dedicated to space weather and atmospheric research. The first mission under the new program is "CubeSat-based Ground-to-Space Bistatic Radar Experiment — Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX)," a collaborative space science project to be undertaken by SRI International’s Hasan Bahcivan and James Cutler of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
The satellites were developed in partnership between Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Stanford University to increase research and educational access to space. CubeSats have proven to be an excellent platform for technology development and small science missions. Because of their quick design time, they are ideal for student involvement with design, fabrication, and flight missions.
“One of the program’s goals is to help train future experimental space scientists and aerospace engineers,” said Therese Moretto Jorgensen, program director in the Upper Atmospheric Research Section of NSF's Geosciences Directorate, Division of Atmospheric Sciences. “It will also help with some of the questions in space weather research that we still struggle with today because they require measurements in space that are not being made.”
The NSF's interest in CubeSats stems from a recommendation in a June 2006 report called "Report of the Assessment Committee for the National Space Weather Program — an interagency initiative to speed improvement of space weather services.” According to the report, agencies involved in space weather work should look into using micro-satellites with miniaturized sensors to provide cost-effective science and operational data sources for space weather applications. The report prompted the NSF to establish the new program in support of CubeSat science missions.
“SRI is excited about the NSF contract, and working in collaboration with the University of Michigan,” said Hasan Bahcivan, research physicist at SRI International. “This program provides a cost effective way to support space weather and atmospheric research. It is also well positioned to provide excellent training opportunities for students that hope to become engineers or scientists. We expect 20 to 30 students to take significant roles in the design, development, and science operations of the satellite.”
The project’s mission is designed to remotely explore small-scale ionization structures in the form of plasma turbulence that occurs in response to intense electrical currents in the space environment. The structures can adversely impact communication and navigation signals by perturbing the refractive index along the signal propagation paths. By utilizing signals from powerful transmitters on the ground and receiving the scattered signals in space, researchers are achieving effective and powerful space-based radar to probe these structures, which would be expensive to accomplish via a stand-alone satellite radar.
"We have a multidisciplinary, cross-departmental team working on the project, that includes several engineers and faculty, and a large number of undergraduate and graduate students," said James Cutler, an assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. "My research laboratory will be partnering with several space-related classes and the Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL) to build and fly RAX."
The first launch opportunity for the NSF satellite program will be with the Department of Defense Space Test Program, and is scheduled for December 2009 aboard a Minotaur-4 launch vehicle out of Kodiak, Alaska. Commissioning and launch support for the mission will be provided by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility.
About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. SRI, which was founded by Stanford University as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and became independent in 1970, has been meeting the strategic needs of clients and partners for more than 60 years. Perhaps best known for its invention of the computer mouse and interactive computing, SRI has also been responsible for major advances in networking and communications, robotics, drug discovery and development, advanced materials, atmospheric research, education research, economic development, national security, and more. The nonprofit institute performs sponsored research and development for government agencies, businesses, and foundations. SRI also licenses its technologies, forms strategic alliances, and creates spin-off companies. In 2007, SRI’s consolidated revenues, including its wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation, were approximately $450 million.
###
