SBIR-STTR Award

The Operational Responsive Space effort requires design aids to speed up the process of designing the mission. Typically, mission simulations use 3DOF simulations such as the COTs software STK and 'Free Flyer'. The Air Force uses these simulations to define Mission Requirements. Unfortunately, these requirements may be overly optimistic because they did not include the physics associated with attitude control such as spacecraft inertial and reaction wheel torque and momentum limits. For example, the ORMSB / TacSat3 procurement initially required a 3 deg/sec slew rate. However, halfway into the procurement phase, it became obvious that this was not possible given the spacecraft constraints and available reaction wheels. These results were brought to light via simulation and analysis with the Spacecraft Design Tool (SDT). SDT implemented in the Responsive Space Test Bed providing the high fidelity real-time 6dof simulations. Star Technologies Proposes to develop wizards to support the Mission Designers that will help them select realistic designs and evaluate them on SDT

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Kirkland AFB is developing technology in support of Plug-N-Play (PnP) Satellites and the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) programs. The PnP Satellite Program is developing the technology necessary to rapidly prototype and assemble a complex Tactical Satellite. As part of the PnP Satellite Program, a collaborative approach is being applied to what is called the “Pushbutton Tool Flow (PTF)”. The PTF provides a satellite design environment whereby the User can move through a sequence of Design Tools to configure a satellite that supports specific tactical missions. The PTF provides the ability to analyze the satellite’s thermal, structural, power and attitude control performance with respect to the tactical mission. Once the tactical mission performance criteria are satisfied, the PTF can generate an assembly plan and a high fidelity satellite simulation for final test and evaluation. Star Technologies Corporation proposes to develop a Design Tool Set in support of the Pushbutton Tool Flow that is necessary to the PnP Satellite Program. The additional design tools necessary are (1) Attitude Control System Design Wizard; (2) Attitude Control System Performance Measure; (3) Thermal Assessment Wizard; (4) CONOPS Characterization Wizard; (5) Spacecraft Design Tool (SDT) API for Autonomous Planning.

Keywords:
Plug & Play Satellite, Spacecraft Design Tool (Sdt), Tactical Conops, Satellite Simulation, Operationally Responsive Space, 3d Satellite Builder