Tag: Aerospace Corp

Launch U standard could help ease launch bottleneck for small sats

The Aerospace Corp’s proposed standards for satellites under 500 kg could help reduce the launch bottleneck for the rideshare market, if the industry can reach consensus on it. Aerospace Corp released its Launch Unit (Launch-U) small satellite form factor proposal earlier this month. The standard is the result of a year’s worth of work between Aerospace Corp, government officials, satellite manufacturers, launch brokers and launch vehicle providers, including SpaceX, ULA,
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Aerospace Corp laser delivers 50x increase in data rates to cubesats

Aerospace Corporation announced a successful test of the first space-to-ground laser communications system for cubesats. The test was the second half of the two-part Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) mission. Two 1.5U cubesats in low Earth orbit (LEO) carrying the laser communication system successfully transmitted data at 100 Mbps, which is about 50 times faster than radio-based communication systems used for smaller spacecraft. [caption id="attachment_1747" align="alignleft" width="335"] One of
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Brane Craft, the ‘nearly 2-dimensional’ solution to space debris, gets more NASA funding

Aerospace Corp’s senior nanotechnology scientist Dr. Siegfried Janson has designed a nearly two-dimensional spacecraft that could be used to removed dead satellites and other space debris from orbit. The Brane Craft proposal was one of 13 designs chosen by NASA last year to receive a $100,000 Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant. This week, Janson’s project was chosen to for another $500,000 in phase II funding to fund another two years
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