CONTROL-STRUCTURES INTERACTION SATELLITE (CSI-SAT)

THIS PROPOSAL WILL DESCRIBE AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR SPACE FLIGHT EPERIMENTS TO DEMONSTRATE AND VALIDATE CONTROL-STRUCTURES INTERACTION (CSI) TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODOLOGIES BASED ON EMERGING SMALL SATELLITE INITIATIVE. THIS PHASE I PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE CONCEPT DESIGN FOR A CONTROL-STRUCTURES INTERACTION SATELLITE (CSI-SAT), LAUNCHING PLATFORM AND GROUND MISSION OPERATIONS CENTER NECESSARY FOR PERFORMING AFFORDABLE ON-ORBIT TESTING OF SELECTED CSI TECHNOLOGIES WHICH CAN NOT BE ACCOMMODATED IN GROUND TESTS. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS CSI-SAT FLIGHT EXPERIMENT APPROACH ARE THEAT (1) IT WOULD BE A DEDICATED CSI FLIGHT EXPERIMENT WITH APPROXIMATELY A ONE YEAR LIFE TIME; (2) WITH THE APPROPRIATE CONCEPT DESIGN, NUMEROUS GUEST INVESTIGATORS COULD FLIGHT TEST INNOVATIVE MATERIALS OR COMPONENTS AS WELL AS UPLINK EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR EVALUATION; (3) IT WILL PROVIDE A RECONFIGURABLE PLATFORM FOR FLIGHT TESTING NEW CSI TECHNOLOGIES/METHODOLOGIES BEFORE APPLYING THEM TO OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS; (4) THIS APPROACH IS POTENTIALLY 5 TO 10 TIMES LOWER IN COST THAN PREVIOUSLY PROPOSED METHODS.