4.20.21-Space-Tech-Kerri-Cahoy

• Video details

  We can use small satellites to test how well new ideas and cutting-edge technologies perform on-orbit within months, not decades, at a cost low enough that risks can be tolerated. The small satellites themselves often take a starring role in these dynamic demonstrations, with their coordinated actions among multiple agents. Current projects are inspired by optical communication, imaging, actuation, and on-orbit assembly. Innovative beam steering approaches are compared, using MEMS, liquid lenses, and shape memory alloy actuators. On-orbit laser beam steering can even help large ground telescopes see dimmer objects, opening up the possibility of finding new exoplanet worlds, or pressing further back in time to understand the evolution of our Universe. And now that we are sold on the promise of small satellites, why not use robots to precisely assemble them on orbit and skip the expensive traditional ground-based build-and-test process?

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