NASA Wants to Use Tiny, Solar-Powered Satellites to Democratize Deep Space

NASA is looking to ramp up its number of deep space missions, while looking for cheap ways to launch new satellites.

The agency recently asked companies to help it design and manufacture solar sails to power small satellites known as CubeSats that can be built and launched cheaply. Solar sails are generally made of an extremely thin piece of metal—some many times thinner than a human hair—to generate thrust for a satellite. They are launched by a rocket, but once in space, the sail uses solar radiation to generate thrust. Theoretically, they can last much longer and are cheaper than any rocket-propulsion systems, making them ideal for deep space missions.

NASA’s George Marshall Space Flight Center recently put out a request for information to companies who can develop sails as large as 33 feet by 33 feet and that can fit into a 10 cm by 10 cm by 10 cm cube, while weighing just three pounds.

Originally developed by researchers at Stanford and California Polytechnic State University, CubeSats be built for less than $50,000.

“They’re small, inexpensive, fully functional satellites that actually fly in space,” Garrett Skrob, a NASA engineer working on the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative said. According to Skrob, as many as 24 CubeSats can be launched as auxiliary payloads on an Atlas 5 rocket. NASA’s CubeSat initiative has begun to democratize space: The agency has launched CubeSats designed by college students from 25 states so far.

“It’s basically a way for NASA to sponsor launches for a large number of universities on NASA flights,” Jordi Puig, a Cal-Poly professor who worked on developing the first CubeSat projects said. “The waiting list is really long, and the launches keep coming.”

According to the request, NASA is looking for solar sail systems “for interplanetary robotic exploration that may be deployed from a cubesat,” and is looking to fly these as soon as 2016.

NASA has increasingly been looking at using solar sails for propulsion of larger satellites as well. The agency plans on launching a 13,000 square-foot Sunjammer solar sail in 2015. Despite its huge size—it’s seven times larger than any other solar sail—the Sunjammer weighs just 70 pounds. According to NASA, the Sunjammer and other solar sails are a huge part of its future plan. The agency says they plan on using them to fly satellites that will monitor space weather, clean up space junk, service the International Space Station, and eventually reach deep space. The technology can also be used to “drive a variety of propellantless, deep-space exploration and supply ferrying missions.”