Nasa 'smallsats' open up new planetary frontier

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39348373

Nasa 'smallsats' open up new planetary frontier

By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website, The Woodlands, Texas

8 hours ago

From the section Science & Environment

Nasa is planning a series of small satellite missions that could open up new ways of exploring the Solar System. James Green, head of planetary science at Nasa, told BBC News that the agency was investing in the technology and looking at how best it could be used. Scientists studying these "smallsats" believe they have now proven their utility for cutting edge science. They could be deployed from larger spacecraft to carry out targeted investigations, Dr Green explained.

These would complement the objectives of the main mission. Indeed, the Insight mission to Mars will test this approach, despatching two small satellites to collect data as the main lander descends to the Red Planet's surface. But smallsats could also operate in constellations of 10 or many more.

"We're thinking about some other cubesat concepts, not only at Mars, but at the Moon, at asteroids, at Venus," the director of Nasa's planetary science division told me here at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Texas.

Dr Green said: "There's an array of ideas that we're kicking around right now. So I think what we'll see in the next 10 or 15 years is that the smaller satellites will have their own way to be implemented in planetary science that will be very complementary and we'll get some exciting science from them." These spacecraft typically weigh less than 180kg compared with several tonnes for the satellites commonly used for bigger, costlier planetary missions.
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Last year, Nasa put out a call for smallsat ideas, which drew 102 proposals from the planetary science community. The space agency considered missions costing up to $100m (£80m). From this longlist, an initial 10 missions have been selected, two each for Venus, the Moon, asteroids, Mars and outer planets and icy bodies. But several more that didn't quite make the cut this time could be funded in the near future as Nasa expands its mission roster of smallsats.
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[lapfog_1]

1. someone should propose this