W.J. Schafer Associates Inc. has conducted an assessment of the capabilities of small satellites to fly material experiments in low earth orbit in order to measure the environmentally induced material degradation. A potential experiment was chosen for the assessment which requires spacecraft pointing in the forward velocity vector (ram direction), a minimum of power, and low data storage. A satellite designed to be launched from a Space Shuttle Get Away Special (GAS) is nominally able to meet these requirements if a simple drag stabilization system is used, if all the available surface area is used for solar panels and if the experiment's power requirement is minimized through the use of passive thermal control.
Space experiments using small satellites
Small-Satellite Technology and Applications ; 1991 ; Orlando,FL,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 1495
1991-07-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
University Experiments for Small Satellites
NTIS | 1989
|Small satellites for water cycle experiments
SPIE | 1991
|Student Experiments, Education, and Training with Small Satellites
Springer Verlag | 2020
|Space Finance for ‘New Space’ and Small Satellites
Springer Verlag | 2020
|