Small Launch Vehicles (SLV) Technologies

SpaceDev has made extensive use of commercial standards to achieve more responsive flexibility in its subsystems. SpaceDev would undertake an approach similar to an advanced microsat systems. It will utilize commercial communications busses (such as Ethernet and LVDS) and communications protocols such as TCPIP to interconnect the various subsystems. Instead of routing hundreds of wiring harnesses to various sensors, smart nodes would be utilized to instrument the vehicle and control actuators. In addition, programmable circuitry would be used to upload operational profiles without having to perform hardware denegation. SpaceDev's goal is to take advantages of its microsat approach to first increase the responsiveness of the launch vehicle and second to reduce the mass fraction of avionics. On a medium size launch vehicle, total mass of avionics could be as much as 500kg. If the mass of the avionics could be reduced by 30% roughly one more 150kg microsat could be launched on the same vehicle.