Tech Track Papers
Tech Track Papers Archive
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are a mainstay of weather forecasts and environmental monitoring in the United States. The next generation of GOES satellites, known as the GOES-R Series, represents significant advancements in the near real-time observation of severe weather across the Western Hemisphere. The GOES-R satellite, the first in the series that also…
Read MoreScientist and astronomer’s worldwide have a great interest in exploring the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. However, one cannot directly image what’s going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of…
Read MoreThe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project is an international collaboration led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. The Webb Telescope is NASA’s flagship observatory that will operate nearly a million miles away from Earth at the L2 Lagrange point. Webb’s optical design is a three-mirror anastigmat with four main optical…
Read MoreWe present the latest performance measurements of the Phase Four RF Thruster (RFT) from testing performed at The Aerospace Corporation and at Phase Four laboratories. The RFT is a nano-satellite-scalable, electrothermal radiofrequency thruster in development that uses RF power to heat xenon plasma propellant, and accelerate it in a radially diverging magnetic plume. The talk…
Read MoreThe current satellite industry demands proven, scalable in-space propulsion technologies and is projected to see a dramatic increase in satellite manufacturing and launch over the next decade. The industry has yet to see a single proven, scalable propulsion technology that’s well suited for satellites of all sizes. Scalable ion electrospray propulsion has been developed to…
Read MoreWith a new shift towards rocket reusability in trying to reduce launch costs, the ability to gain insight into how to launch vehicles perform thorough analysis and testing is more critical than ever. Trying to balance the very dynamic and extreme loads during take-off with the complex and intricate weight-reducing vehicle structural designs has challenged…
Read MoreTraditional satellite operations focus on ensuring specific individual satellite constellations are optimally performing their missions. The satellite controllers are generally a mix of ground, vehicle, and payload specialists. These types of operators treat constellation issues as system anomalies and are trained to troubleshoot specific issues. The traditional skill set for basic satellite command control may…
Read MoreThe DoD demand for beyond line of site capacity, driven by a more connected tactical environment and explosion in ISR, has continued to grow substantially over the past several decades. While improvements in MILSATCOM and in particular High Capacity COMSATCOM have helped the warfighter’s mission there is still substantial unmet need as there are limits…
Read MoreSatellites that were once safe deep in space grow more vulnerable as adversaries are increasingly displaying both the intent and wherewithal to compromise and cripple space capabilities in their efforts to challenge our strategic advantage. These vulnerabilities are driving change in military space and countering them requires more resilience, agility, and speed in order to…
Read MoreThe leading commercial Satellite Service Providers are supplying Satcom services with increased network capacity, vastly improved end-user terminal data rates, lower cost of deliver and embedded Cyber security defenses. Taken together these capabilities promise to close many of the operational gaps in National Security Space before the deployment of the Space Enterprise Vision/Space Warfighter Construct.…
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