CubeSat flight system development for enabling deep space science

Abstract

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is investing in a suite of core flight system technologies to enable CubeSats to conduct missions in deep space. These will be demonstrated on currently funded missions, such as INSPIRE, MarCO, and Lunar Flashlight, which will be among the first CubeSat missions to leave Earth's orbit and explore deep space, Mars, and the Moon, respectively. Other concepts may consider using these technologies to explore Venus, asteroids, Europa, Titan, and other areas of the solar system. These missions and concepts can be enabled by the development of miniaturized yet performant command and data handling, power, software, and communications systems specifically designed for deep space applications. JPL is pushing the state of the art in small subsystems to augment NASA's history of exploration. While the CubeSat/SmallSat component market has grown significantly to benefit LEO applications, only a few vendors are actively developing avionics and instrument interface electronics capable of meeting the stringent environmental, reliability, and performance requirements of deep space missions. These electronics and systems need to be specifically designed to handle harsh radiation and thermal environments as well as extended mission durations, where a CubeSat may begin its science observations after a multi-year cruise. Deep space missions also require additional technologies, such as radio transponders for interplanetary navigation. This paper first summarizes the systems-level developments of the enabling technologies of the JPL avionics bus, looking at maturing hardware and as well as future evolutions of technologies. Second, the paper discusses potential science instruments and applications that could be accommodated by these unique flight systems, either within a CubeSat or SmallSat form factor. Finally, the paper pairs technologies and instruments and showcases potential science missions enabled by this novel capability.