A SmallSat using a small Radioisotope Power System for deep space destinations could potentially fit into a Discovery class mission cost cap and perform significant science with a timely return of data. Only applicable when the Discovery 12 guidelines were applied. Commonality of hardware and science instruments among identical spacecraft enabled to meet the Discovery Class mission cost cap. Multiple spacecraft shared the costs of the Launch Approval Engineering Process. Assumed a secondary science instrument was contributed. Small RPS could provide small spacecraft with a relatively high power (approx. 60 We) option for missions to deep space destinations (> 10 AU) with multiple science instruments. Study of Centaur mission demonstrated the ability to achieve New Frontiers level science. Multiple spacecraft possible with small RPS, allowing for multiple targets, science from multiple platforms, and/or redundancy.
Enabling Future Low-Cost Small Mission Concepts
AIAA SpaceOps 2014 International Conference on Space Operations ; 2014 ; Pasadena, CA, United States
2014-05-05
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2014
|British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010
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