How a single microsatellite changed the economics of space access
In short: Launching into orbit is notoriously expensive, but NASA’s FASTSAT mission introduced a way to bypass the high costs of traditional launches. By acting as a mobile platform for secondary payloads, this miniature spacecraft proved that we can deploy complex experiments without needing a dedicated, massive rocket.
The Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, known as FASTSAT, was engineered as a modular, low-cost 'bus' for scientific research. Weighing less than 150 kg, the spacecraft was designed to provide rapid access to space for government, academic, and industry researchers. Unlike traditional complex spacecraft, FASTSAT was built using a flexible, configurable layout, allowing the integrated system to be ready for launch just 15 months after receiving authority to proceed.
A primary objective of the mission was to demonstrate the capability of ejecting a nanosatellite from a free-flying microsatellite. On December 6, 2010, at 1:31 a.m. EST, NASA successfully achieved this by ejecting the NanoSail-D from FASTSAT. This was a significant technical milestone, as it marked the first time NASA mounted a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) on a microsatellite to eject a cubesat, rather than mounting it directly on a launch vehicle.
The NanoSail-D experiment itself focused on alternative propulsion. The nanosatellite, roughly the size of a loaf of bread, deployed a 100-square-foot solar sail made of a polymer thinner than a human hair. This technology aims to use solar pressure to de-orbit space debris without using precious mission propellants. Following deployment, the sail is expected to remain in low-Earth orbit for approximately 70 to 120 days before atmospheric re-entry causes it to disintegrate.
The mission's success relies on a coordinated ground effort. While the spacecraft was designed and tested in Huntsville, mission control for the six onboard experiments transitioned to the small satellite mission control room at the Marshall Space Flight Center's Huntsville Operations and Science Control Center.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: NASA's Microsatellite FASTSAT Readies for Launch
- Also: NASA Ejects Nanosatellite From Microsatellite in Space - NASA
- Also: FASTSAT a Mini-Satellite Mission...A Way Ahead - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
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