Digital Commons Network^™

Multipoint Sensor Constellations Demonstrated On Spear-1 Using Radstar, Black Box, And Fastbus+, Jeff Dailey, Matt Orvis, John Pugsley, Matt Voss, Hank Voss, Nathan Turner, Dillon Embry, Gretchen Barnes, Mike Schuckel, Nathan Daniels

Small Satellite Conference

NearSpace Launch (NSL) has developed and flown both multipoint sensor constellations and hosted-payload smallsat constellations since 2014, supporting missions for educational, commercial, and government partners. These missions enable distributed, multipoint sensing by combining compact sensor suites with persistent, low-latency satellite links and a common, time-ordered data architecture suitable for constellation operations. Recent flight heritage includes 24/7 space-to-Internet communications and rapid Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) telemetry acquisition to support early identification, commissioning, and anomaly response. Most recently, the Space Power and Energy Advanced Reconnaissance (SPEAR-1) constellation demonstrated this multipoint architecture while maturing advanced power-generation and energy-storage technologies relevant to …

Schott Options For Efficient Design-To-Cost Zerodur® Optical Assemblies With Established Supply Chain Reliability, Florian Gollier, Jesse Bonfeld, Dustin Ruth, Janina Krieg, Thomas Westerhoff, Tony Hull, Jacqueline Caraballo

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

The Quantum Cubesat: A Perspective For Quantum Technology In Orbit, Natalie Pearson, Andrew Kelly, Curtis Talbot, Colin Aitken, Kevin Quillen, Sandy Provan

Small Satellite Conference

Motivation

The ability to measure, control and exploit quantum effects has shown significant potential to outperform classical devices across a variety of applications in computing, sensing and communication. However, quantum devices today typically depend equipment that is large, heavy, expensive and delicate. Bringing quantum capability to space requires a relentless focus on miniaturisation, ruggedisation and applicability. Focusing engineering efforts on the most promising technologies to realise their benefits in orbit is a crucial step in this process.

Gigabit Ethernet Satellite Bus For Smallsat Applications: Standardizing Cots-Based High-Speed On-Board Data Communication, Lucas Felderhoff, Mathias Reibe

Small Satellite Conference

The satellite architectures of modern missions underline the increasing need to simplify and standardize on-board data buses. This requirement becomes more critical as missions demand higher data rates and greater flexibility.

Validation Of A Modular Adcs Architecture For Small Satellites, Saish Sridharan

Small Satellite Conference

Poster Presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Rad-Hard Circuits For Complete System-On-Chip Integration Of Smallsat Electronics On Standard Non-Rad-Hard Cmos Including Finfets, Ignatius Bezzam, Dhandeep Challagundla, Riadul Islam

Small Satellite Conference

1. SmallSat Compute Is Thermally Constrained

• SmallSats are packing more autonomy, sensing, and payload processing into tighter volumes.
• Power budget, heat removal, and radiation reliability constrain sustained on-orbit computation.
• Off-chip shielding increases mass and volume
• Redundancy and guard-banding increase switching energy. 
• This work targets lower heat generation and higher reliability inside the silicon.

Systems Progress Overview Of Rosisat: The Radiation Orbital Shielding Investigation Satellite, Chase Patterson, Jacob Blanton, Jayden Mcdonald, Kylie Nager, Colson Walker, Francisco Crespo Cutillas

Small Satellite Conference

Exposure to space weather in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space weather environment poses significant challenges to both the integrity and longevity of orbital hardware, as well as the health of astronauts, driving the necessity for improved means of radiation shielding for future manned and unmanned missions. With a 1U CubeSat formfactor, ROSISat is a planned LEO mission that aims to characterize the radiation shielding capabilities of seven candidate materials. By comparing the shielding performance of each composite and constituent material, ROSISat will place a specific focus on correlating how molecular structure influences radiation shielding. Further, current simulations lack the …

Satellite Autonomous Launch Assembly (Satlass): Cold Gas Propulsion System Testing, Anthony Todisco Jr., Jaden Caradine, Justin Della, Essence Howard, Colin Mccaughey, Andrew Hawks, Alexander Kushto, Javier Narvaez, Gabriella Colon O'Hara, Franyerson Lopez Ochoa, Elizabeth Ptak, Diana Tormo, Francisco Crespo Cutillas, Sean Crouse, Lary Finberg

Small Satellite Conference

Project SATLASS plans to become one of the first cold gas propelled CubeSat Deployers used. Using Nitrogen gas, SATLASS will be able to place multiple CubeSats into customizable orbits autonomously. A modular housing unit will allow for 3-1U CubeSats to 1-3U CubeSat to ride along with SATLASS through Low Earth Orbit.

4dof Steam Propulsion System For 1u Cubesats And Larger, David Hinkley, Jonathan Cheng, Susan Ossareh, Jeff Asher, Logan Fernandez, Brenda Valdez, Bhargav Nagarajan, Aryan Jafari, Stephen Samples

Small Satellite Conference

Aerospace developed a warm gas water vapor propulsion system for the OCSD-A mission in 2015 and redesigned it for the AeroCube-10 mission in 2019. Those were single nozzle systems. The 2019 mission performed reliably so this design is an evolution to 5 thrusters. Also new is that the main tank is additively manufactured aluminum so that tubing can be embedded and thermal management is easier.

Advanced Avionics: Low Swap Hpsc Box For Space Autonomy, Behnam Azimi, Sun Hur-Diaz, Hossein Mohammadkhan, Michael Romeo, Sean Semper, Alan Cudmore

Small Satellite Conference

Objective: To provide a next-generation avionics system built on NASA's High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) processor technology.

An Operator-In-The-Loop Smallsat Operations Simulation For Classroom Training, Samuil Nikolov, Kaelyn Tindall, Lana Laskey

Small Satellite Conference

Training spacecraft operators through a hybrid environment combining live telemetry, game-engine visualization, subsystem consoles, and real-time anomaly response.

An End-To-End Optical And Ethernet Networking Architecture For Next-Generation Satellite Constellations, Gianluca Giuffrida, Francesco Falaschi

Small Satellite Conference

• Modern satellites generate ever-increasing data volumes, increasingly challenging traditional RF links. IngeniArs combines very high speed optical links, up to 10 Gbps, with an onboard Ethernet routing fabric
• Optical data is packetized and dynamically routed for onboard storage or processing, or relayed across the constellation from satellite to satellite until it reaches an available ground station
• The result is reduced time-to-ground, increased contact opportunities, and more resilient end-to-end data delivery across the space and ground segments, despite intermittent link availability

Autonomous Onboard Navigation And Mission Planning In A Lunar Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit, Carl De Vries, Robert Pritchett, Sun Hur-Diaz, Nathan Esantsi, Liam Greenlee, Ben Leser, Mike Romeo

Small Satellite Conference

autoNGC is a core Flight System (CFS) application suite that performs real-time, onboard autonomous navigation, guidance and control (autoNGC)

Development Of The Korea's First Hyperspectral Microsatellite Constellation For Local-Scale Methane Monitoring: Narsha, Geuk-Nam Kim, Jinyoung Shin, Museong Park, Sang Hun Lee, Heewon Park, Taemin Kim, Jooin Lee, Dohyun Kim, Insun Jung, Marcin Badowski, Kiyun Park, Jae-Pil Park, Jaemin Hong, Yu-Ri Lee, Sujong Jeong, Alexandra Jercaianu, Pawel Snopek

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Experimental Investigation Of "Structured Radio Wave" Propagation Using A Deployable Parabolic Reflector With A Uniform Circular Array, Makoto Ito, Tsukasa Funane, Yosuke Tanabe, Miki Yonehara, Hisatoshi Kimura, Keigo Nakamura, Yasuyuki Miyazaki, Satoshi Ikari, Shinichi Nakasuka, Ayako Torisaka, Koichi Watanabe

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Feasibility Of Failure-Resilient Swarm Formation Flying And Multi-Beam Coherent Apertures In 10000+ High-Density Satellite Swarms, Sumio Morioka

Small Satellite Conference

Direct-to-Device (D2D) communication links satellites directly to ground terminals without large antennas, supporting future Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and IoT. Our earlier work [1] showed that a formation of 10,000+ ultra-small satellites, as a coherent phased-array aperture, closes the D2D link budget. This study asks whether the formation can be operated within each satellite’s available power.

Lego®-Based Cubesats For Space Outreach, Stefan Brandle, Joshua Brown, Evan Smith, Drew Nye, Sydney Reddy, Twidy Kwae, Kaiya Grzesiak, Matthew Roderer, John Hetz

Small Satellite Conference

Taylor University Computer Science and Engineering is building a satellite having a LEGO®-robotics-based payload.

Mission Goals

• Have university students build a novel ELEO satellite
• Demonstrate viability of LEGO robotics electronics in space for short-term low-altitude missions
• Enhance space awareness by capturing the public's imagination through integral use of LEGO in an actual satellite
• Identify partners willing to provide advice and promote this project
• Create additional pathways for K-12 and university student participation in building satellites and satellite-related projects
• Support other space-education organizations through a high-visibility satellite project
• Continue space outreach efforts in the spirit of the ThinSat project
• ThinSat was …

Magnetic Balancing For Microvibration Reduction In Passive Magnetic Bearings For Smallsat Reaction Wheels, Deckers Niel, Baekeland Mante, Cuypers Cedric, Seiler Rene, Vandepitte Dirk, Delabie Tjorven

Small Satellite Conference

Reduction and mitigation of microvibrations constitutes a crucial field of interest in the research of spacecraft reaction wheels. This applies all the more so in small satellites, where even minimal sources of vibrations lead to imprecision of onboard instruments. To address this, magnetic bearings offer contactless support, and thus prevent several sources of microvibrations that exist in classical ball bearings, for instance the mechanical imperfections in rolling elements. The inherently low stiffness of magnetic bearings also significantly reduces the transmitted forces in reaction wheels. Another advantage of contactless support is its potential longer lifetime because of the absence …

Manufacturing Advances For Cost Effective, Large Aperture Monolithic Telescopes, T. Suratwala, R. Steele, G. Tham, J. Ross, J. Johnson, O. Herrera, M. Cahill, D. Bechtold, R. Bechtold, F. Ravizza, J. Cortes

Small Satellite Conference

Space has become increasingly more contested over the last decade, with the proliferation of satellites and space assets that require new levels of Space Domain Awareness (SDA). Space is often described by the US Government as the next warfighting domain. Control, understanding and dominance over this vast domain requires exquisite and complex optomechanical systems.

Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Space Science and Security Program (SSSP) has developed unique monolithic optics, which are ground-aligned during manufacturing and are nearly athermal. These qualities greatly reduce the complexity of the optical payload when compared to legacy telescope designs. Monolithic optics deliver excellent imaging capabilities, …

Reacquiring Satellites After Unknown Maneuvers In Sensor Blind Spots: A Physics-Informed Behavioral Framework For Closed-Loop Custody Recovery, Naushad Rahman, Niha Agarwalla, Hardik Patel

Small Satellite Conference

Operational problem

After a maneuver during a sensor blind spot, a pre­-gap catalog state may no longer be operationally sufficient. A null look at GS2 must become evidence for where the object could be­ – and where to task next – before access expires.

Recap: A Study Of Downlink Optimization Methods Using Mms As A Template, Connor Firth, Conrad Schiff, Stephen Kreisler, Alexander Barrie

Small Satellite Conference

Motivations: MMS as a paradigm for downlink optimization

• MMS is a multi-agent mission requiring downlink optimization. ReCAP (Remote Coordination, Actuation, and Planning) assigns ground contacts using auctions.
• Five realistic downlink optimization cases are studied, and the amount of data downlinked is tracked to illustrate ReCAP’s ability to optimize for different criteria.
• ReCAP demonstrates value as a real-time, onboard downlink optimization tool.

Swap Optimized, Optical Communications Terminal Concepts For Lunar, Mars, Jupiter And Neptune Solar System Missions, Keith G. Petrillo, Mark Storm

Small Satellite Conference

Trinity: Fibertek's Lunar terminal

• Trinity provides a good basis for providing a low SWaP terminal for deep space communications
• Leveraging Trinity and high-power LiDAR lasers enables communications to 32AU
• Appropriate for deep space small satellites

University Ground-Station-As-A-Service: Promoting Space It Education And University Collaboration, Daniel Freburg, Will Lewis, Charles Edamala, Phoenix Alpine

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Validation Of Steering Law For A 4-Variable-Speed Single-Gimbal Control Moment Gyroscope Pyramid Cluster Via Spherical Air-Bearing Testbed, Kai Kuo Liao, Chih Ta Wu, Jen Hao Cheng, Po Hsun Yen, Shang Jung Lee

Small Satellite Conference

• VSCMG: wheel speed is commanded with gimbal rate — the extra DOF lets the cluster slide past singularities.
• HIL: a Helmholtz cage replays the on-orbit field and a solar simulator sets the Sun line.
• This work: HIL validation of a weighted-pseudoinverse steering law, 4-unit pyramid.

Reinventing The Reaction Wheel, I. Penchev, N. Andrada

Small Satellite Conference

Rapid growth of microsatellite missions and constellations in the 10–600 kg class is increasing the demand for scalable, high-performance attitude control solutions. Advanced payloads for Earth Observation, Synthetic Aperture Radar, complex science missions, and geolocation systems require:

• Low microvibration performance
• Precise pointing stability
• High angular momentum capacity
• Reliable across mission lifetimes

Space Inventor is qualifying a new generation of 1 Nms-class reaction wheels optimized for microsatellite platforms. The innovative mechanical design, combined with manufacturing-aware system design, unlocks expanded performance and mission opportunities for microsatellites and constellations.

Zerodur®: Tailoring Opportunities For Your Thermal Environment And Second-Order Optimum Factors, Jesse Bonfeld, Dustin Ruth, Florian Gollier, Janina Krieg, Thomas Westerhoff, Tony Hull, Jacqueline Caraballo

Small Satellite Conference

Poster Presented at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

Evaluating Performance Of Hardware-Accelerated Vessel Detection Algorithms, Michael Tietz, John Warner, Quinton Davidson, Douglas Carssow

Small Satellite Conference

Earth observing satellites contribute to the monitoring of maritime activity by enabling large-scale coverage of open water. For example, spacecraft data can be used to monitor and combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing that occurs in coastal and international waters across the globe. However, information latencies limit the utility of space-based sensors for operational users who need real-time situational awareness. These limitations are especially pronounced for small spacecraft with limited power generation and downlink capabilities. In recent years, the devices and tools that enable edge computing and near real-time downlink from small spacecraft have improved substantially. Equipped with these …

Design And Performance Of The Active Thermal Architecture Technology For The Upcoming Acmes Mission, Lucas Anderson, Charles Swenson, Miguel Nunes, Robert Wright

Small Satellite Conference

This paper will discuss the basic design, fabrication, and experimental validation plan of the Active Thermal Architecture (ATA), a novel Active Thermal Control (ATC) technology that will be demonstrated on the upcoming Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES) mission. The ATA is an integrated single-phase mechanically pumped fluid-loop (MPFL) thermal control system developed for high-power small-satellite applications. The ATA is constructed using 3D Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing to co-fabricate the internal thermal transport channels and structural members, enabling direct integration of heat exchangers and fluid pathways within primary spacecraft components. The resulting architecture reduces mechanical interfaces, improves thermal transfer, and …

Development Of Wavelength-Division-Multiplexed All-Optical Relays For Low-Earth Orbit Free-Space Optical Communication Networks, Travis Jones, Justin Cook, Chris Krush, Doruk Engin, Keith G. Petrillo

Small Satellite Conference

In this work, we designed, built, and tested an all-optical relay amplifier to enable a space-based all-optical backbone for laser communications networks. The design sought to optimize links for LEO-based networks incorporating appropriate span lengths and optical terminal specifications. We incorporate an add-drop multiplexer for rerouting signals and designed the system to be flexible over span lengths with a nominal range of 1,800 km. We performed several tests of the nominally 60 dB gain amplifier to assess link dynamics unique to free space optical communications (FSOC) including the impact of pointing jitter, nonlinearities, gain flattening, and wide-band filters on an …

Delay/ Disruption Tolerant Networking In Cislunar Space, Sara Garcia-Beech, Rebecca Besser, Elizabeth Geist, Theresa Beech, Mike Palsson, Krishnan Narayanan, Ben Anderson

Small Satellite Conference

DTN (Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking) is at foundation of NASA's LunaNet architecture, which will enable the robust communications, navigation, and networking capabilities needed to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. DTN is a network architecture composed of several different protocols that are designed to provide internetworking functionality and standardized multi-hop, end-to-end data delivery in highly stressed environments that are not optimal for traditional Internet Protocols. Bundle Protocol (BP) version 7, a store-and-forward protocol intended to run at the application layer on top of convergence layer protocols, provides the key delay tolerance functionality of DTN and is designed to handle intermittent …