Advancing Commercial Space

NASA has developed a new laser beam pointing technology for use in space optical communications. With further development, possible applications include communications from the Earth to spacecraft in Earth orbit and in deep space, such as at the moon and Mars. A possible application is to the Artemis Program for CubeSats in low-Lunar Orbit (LLO). Current architectures use dynamical systems, (i.e., moving parts, e.g., fast-steering mirrors (FSM), and/or gimbals,) to turn the laser to point to the ground terminal and possibly use vibration isolation platforms (VIP). This patented technology from NASA Ames uses a combined lens system and a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)/Photodetector Array. This static system has the potential to replace the current dynamic systems and VIP, dependent on studies for the particular application. Laser beam pointing is very challenging for low-Earth Orbit (LEO), including science missions. Computer simulations using this design have been made for an application to a CubeSat in LEO.

NASA Ames has developed a novel system in its portfolio for optical data transmissions from satellites using laser arrays for laser beam pointing. It is a fine pointing capability for laser beam pointing to augment body pointing by CubeSats in Low Orbit Earth (LEO). It is simple, static and compact. It combines a small lens system and a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)/Photodetector Array in a novel way for laser beam pointing. Body pointing was used earlier for CubeSats in LEO in NASA's Optical Communications and Sensors Demonstration (OCSD) program [1]. This fine pointing capability was computer simulated for the CubeSats used in the OCSD program [2,3]. With fine pointing, the spot size on the Earth was reduced by a factor of eight with a reduction in laser output power by a factor of sixty-four, thereby mitigating the thermal load challenge on the OCSD CubeSats.

NASA has developed an innovative combination of a Magnetometer, low-powered ElectroMagnets, and Resonant Inductive Coupling (MEMRIC) to create and control relative positioning of nano satellites within a cluster. This is a game-changing approach to enable distributed nanosatellite (nanosat) clusters. The focus is on low-cost propulsion, navigation, and power sharing. Each of these functions can share the same basic technology. With the combination of a magnetometer, low-power electromagnets, and resonant inductive coupling, several nanosats can be clustered without the need of propellant-based propulsion systems, or GPS for relative positioning. By separating distinct subsystems into their own nanosat and producing them as generic, off-the-shelf components, the mission-design process is simplified, enabling the selection of the number of subsystem components that is most beneficial to the mission. The cost saving in the design cycle will pay for the extra, off-the-self power unit.

Aerospace vehicles, including aircraft, spacecraft, and autonomous systems, require a balance of physical and control systems to achieve optimal performance. Traditional design approaches treat physical and control parameters separately, leading to suboptimal designs that may not meet stringent operational requirements under real-world conditions. NASA Ames has developed a novel parametric modeling approach that integrates physical design (e.g., geometry, structural load) with guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems, allowing for the co-optimization of these subsystems. This innovative technique applies multi-variable calculus and gradient-based methods to iterate on design parameters, enabling aerospace vehicles to achieve better performance, stability, and fuel efficiency. The technology reduces the development time and ensures a more robust design by accounting for real-world variables such as aerodynamic uncertainties, environmental disturbances, and sensor noise.

The state-of-the-art in hypersonic entry Guidance and Control (G&C) is traditionally based on rigid entry vehicles, like the Orion capsule, Space Shuttle, etc., that use a Reaction Control System (RCS) to control the bank angle of the vehicle. However, for future high mass missions to Mars, advancements in hypersonic aerospace vehicle design, and evolving science goals, are stretching the performance capabilities of traditional entry systems. NASA’s Pterodactyl team at Ames Research Center has developed a novel yaw-to-bank control system for a non-traditional vehicle configurations, such as a Deployable Entry Vehicle (DEV) that can be folded and stowed. The approach provides vehicle stabilization, steering, and precise targeted landing. This control architecture is agnostic to control actuators and can be used with any aerospace vehicle with a strong dihedral effect and/or different guidance control variables.

This novel innovation from Ames Research Center allows spacecraft to share rides with larger spacecraft which are headed to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The secondary spacecraft is dropped off Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) at any time during the day or year and will subsequently enter lunar orbit, with no constraint on the lunar orbit inclination. The secondary spacecraft can be relatively small, riding as a secondary payload with a larger primary spacecraft. The secondary spacecraft is intended to be controllable (i.e., maneuverable).

NASA Ames Research Center has developed a novel low-cost, self-contained Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) subsystem for developers and operators of small-payload Space Launch Vehicles (SLVs). Small satellites are becoming ever more capable of performing valuable missions for both government and commercial customers. However, currently these satellites can only be launched affordably as secondary payloads which makes it difficult for the small satellite mission to launch when needed into the desired orbit, and with acceptable risk. NASA's Affordable Vehicle Avionics (AVA) technology offers access to space for small-payload SLV operators with an ability to provide dedicated launch to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), when and where they need. AVA demonstrates a self-contained GNC subsystem that can be integrated and operated at a fraction of the recurring costs of existing units.

A star tracker or similar navigation device is needed for a Small Spacecraft, to provide highly accurate attitude information and to determine location and velocity vectors. NASA has developed a novel technology, a star tracker, as part of its extremely low cost commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware project. It uses relatively low power, is highly accurate, and is relatively inexpensive, uses an iterative pattern matching approach to identify a star configuration and associated spatial viewing direction in a database that corresponds to an observed star configuration. Orientation of a star configuration is confirmed by comparison of measured angular differences with angular differences contained in a database. Star configurations viewed from a polyhedrron defined by two, three, four or more non-coincident planes can be used to estimate a three-dimensional viewing direction of the polyhedron.

NASA's Glenn Research Center has developed a method of using entangled-photon pairs to produce highly secure mobile communications that require mere milliwatts of power. Conventional gas Argon-ion laser sources are too large, expensive, and power-intensive to use in portable applications. By contrast, Glenn's patented optical quantum communication method produces entangled-photon pairs approximately a million times more efficiently than conventional sources, in a system that is small and light enough to be portable. Furthermore, because this method transmits digital information by detecting small temporal shifts between entangled photons, its superior signal-to-noise ratio facilitates highly secure communications in very noisy free space and fiber-optic environments. Originally developed for micro-robots used for deep space exploration, this technology represents a breakthrough for a wide variety of terrestrial, scientific, military, and other field-deployable applications including fiber-optic and satellite communications.

Overview The process of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) produces variable length symmetric bit strings at both communication nodes for each QKD operation. This system combines several technologies developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center to create a secure, practical, and efficient optical transceiver system for QKD. The system uses a Space-And-Wave (SAW) division method to separate low-energy QKD photons from high-energy data transmissions. Unlike traditional methods that use entangled photons, this approach sends and receives encryption keys using weak coherent pulsed light and can be applied to the encryption of any free space optical communications. The technology includes methods for generating a random basis set on demand and for converting variable-length quantum keys into fixed-length keys compatible with mainstream symmetric encryption schemes.

As the demand grows for more radio frequency (RF) carrier bands in space communication systems, so does the need for a cost-effective compact optical transmitter that is capable of efficiently transmitting multiple RF bands. Traditionally, when a satellite transmits to another satellite or a ground station, a separate terminal with a corresponding antenna is needed for each radio frequency band. Equipment becomes more complex as frequencies get higher. At the higher bands, large heat sinks are needed to dissipate the waste heat. Now, however, innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have successfully developed a method using a single laser beam to combine and transmit - all in one unit - multiple microwave bands with different modulation formats and bandwidths. This breakthrough benefits space communication systems in important ways, including reduced size, weight, and complexity, with consequent savings in cost. With additional development, the technology could be extended to fiber optic systems for terrestrial applications.

Innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have developed a multi-tone, multi-band, high frequency synthesizer that enables unprecedented satellite communications and atmospheric studies. Because of the increased congestion at currently used frequency bands, it would be game-changing to open other millimeter-wave frequency bands for satellite communications with stations on Earth. When used as part of a CubeSat beacon transmitter, the synthesizer would enable rigorous characterization of atmospheric effects (e.g., rainfall, climate change, hurricane monitoring, cloud cover, and gaseous adsorption). Although the synthesizer can be used on other platforms, the use of the CubeSat allows these studies to be conducted without the huge expense of a larger satellite. The synthesizer can also be used for space-borne active remote sensors such as scatterometers.

Innovators at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed the Cascaded Offset Optical Modulator, an electro-optic subsystem used to interface a binary output Software Defined Radio (SDR) to an optical transmission system. Traditionally, this task is accomplished through the use of a Mach Zehnder Modulator (MZM), a primarily analog component. In order to generate a high-fidelity optical signal, the input electrical signal must be of equally high fidelity, which is a difficult task due to the competing requirements of the digital components and the analog modulator. The digital components required to generate the waveform contain non-idealities which degrade the extinction ratio (ER) of the optical signal. The Cascaded Offset Optical Modulator corrects these non-idealities in the electro-optic subsystem during modulation by relieving the SDR of the extreme fidelity requirements imposed by the optical modulator. This approach is valid in any optical transmission system that requires high fidelity binary pulses without a complex component.

Researchers at NASA's Glenn Research Center have patented a novel multimode directional coupler (MDC). This rugged and easily constructed waveguide is used to extract second- or higher-order harmonics, which are generally unused but contain sufficient power to be amplified and transmitted to a receiving station on Earth. Glenn's innovators developed the MDC as a means to extract signal harmonics from a satellite transmitter, with minimum perturbation to a fundamental frequency. The ability of the MDC to allow the fundamental frequency to propagate with negligible power losses makes it a substantial upgrade over the conventional diplexer. Glenn's MDC offers an innovative way to increase the number of terrestrial stations that can receive signals from a single satellite, potentially increasing the return on the investment involved in launching and maintaining satellites.

Innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have devised an efficient new method of combining primary and secondary signals with minimal loss and noise. Exploiting non-traditional uses of frequency domain multiplexers and analog-to-digital converters (ADC), Glenn's secondary signal combiner uses a frequency multiplexer in the analog domain and wideband ADC to combine electromagnetic signals (primarily MHz to GHz) with extremely low loss for both signals thereby reducing noise. With its ability to reduce system noise, this novel signal combiner delivers the best opportunity to receive a desired signal not easily distinguished from background noise. While Glenn's new technology will form part of the front-end for a new software-defined radio in ground stations, it is also poised to be an important piece in telecommunications devices, including cell phones, Wi-Fi, hot spots, satellites, and future wireless technologies.

Innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have developed a hybrid telescope antenna system - Teletenna - to deliver high data-rate communication over great distances. Teletenna has the potential to benefit deep space missions and communications on Earth. By combining two very different communications systems - optics and radio frequency (RF) - Teletenna capitalizes on the benefits of each system while overcoming conflicting engineering requirements. Teletenna is a breakthrough innovation, particularly in the field of Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), in which it could deliver high-definition imagery, live video feed, and real time data-transmission 10 to 100 times faster than current state-of-the-art technology. Teletenna supports beaconless pointing, remains nearly transparent to RF, and achieves an unprecedented level of data richness and bandwidth. This exceptionally lightweight and precise instrument stands ready to revolutionize deep space exploration, satellite communications, telecommunications, and more.

Innovators at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have developed an all-metal, X-band patch antenna with built in choke rings and a polarizer circuit to meet the stringent requirements of high-precision space navigation antennas for the Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponder for Small Satellites (GRITSS) mission. GRITSS required a low-gain antenna with strong multipath mitigation and a stable phase center. Typical dielectric-patch antennas can be high-loss, susceptible to manufacturing variability, have limited power handling ability, and are temperature sensitive. Compared to commercially available path antennas, NASA’s antenna is more rugged, provides a high front-to-back ratio, mitigates multipath signal interference, and is capable of higher power handling. NASA’s X-band antenna was designed to be mounted on a CubeSat but has the potential of being mounted on terrestrial aircraft and vehicles for either communication or radar applications.

Many critical science objectives demand the capability to penetrate meters of dust and regolith to reveal buried terrain. While NASA’s primary focus includes the Moon and Mars, future missions targeting Venus, Mercury, asteroids, and other celestial bodies will also require technologies capable of deep subsurface penetration, mapping sub-surface features at meter-scale resolution. For the Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar (SESAR) mission, NASA scientists needed a lightweight, beam-agile synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operating at P-band frequencies to achieve these objectives on the Lunar and Martian surfaces. Innovators at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have developed a dual-polarized, wideband, lightweight P-band antenna element and array for spaceborne radar applications. The antenna array utilizes lightweight, low-profile elements that serve as modular building blocks, forming “array panels” that can be scaled up into larger, multi-panel arrays. The novel design features a mostly planar conductor geometry paired with a robust, lightweight composite material construction. The antenna element and array design are also scalable to other frequencies (e.g., L-, S-, C-, or X-bands) for radar applications where low mass and beam agility are crucial.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) employs many advanced innovations developed at Goddard and in collaboration with other organizations. The applications and benefits for these technologies are advantageous for many other industries as well. One of those technologies is the Space Link Extension Return Channel Frames (SLE-RCF) software library. This software library enables a mission control center to receive telemetry frames from a ground station. The technology implements the SLE-RCF protocol as defined by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). Software routines can be reused from mission to mission.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed FlashPose, a relative navigation measurement software and VHDL, for space flight missions requiring vehicle-relative and terrain-relative navigation and control. FlashPose processes real-time or recorded range and intensity images from 3D imaging sensors such as Lidars, and compares them to known models of the target surfaces to output the position and orientation of the known target relative to the sensor coordinate frame. FlashPose provides a relative navigation (pose estimation) capability to enable autonomous rendezvous and capture of non-cooperative space-borne targets. All algorithmic processing takes place in the software application, while custom FPGA firmware interfaces directly with the Ball Vision Navigation System (VNS) Lidar and provides imagery to the algorithm.

In laser satellite to satellite tracking for gravity measurements, satellite to satellite separation is measured to the highest precision possible (less than one micrometer). The measurement is conducted with laser links between two satellites, where the laser optical phase change is measured as a function of time. Satellite yaw and pitch causing optical path length change is a major error source. In current systems, path length change compensation is achieved with a sophisticated optical bench design.

High orbit satellite servicing and planetary science missions are susceptible to effects from harsh radiation environments and long mission lives. The need for long measurement ranges and accuracy presents a unique set of requirements for relative navigation using LRFs. While other potential solutions exist, high costs and schedule risks of reliability/performance make them unfeasible. This NASA technology alleviates those problems.

Space optical networks are slated to become the dominant form of communication due to their high data rates, customizable configurations, and signal coverage. To make these networks feasible, issues to be overcome include the large coverage angles, dynamic nature of desired orbits for coverage, data losses through optical beam sizes, and unnecessary illumination of large spaces absent satellite presences.

Pointing precision is a critical element of instrumentation for optical communications and ranging in space, affecting laser design, link power budgets and SWaP. While star trackers possess pointing knowledge that is sub-microradian, conventional pointing accuracy is limited by reaction-wheel based altitude control systems at ~50 microradians.

Next generation autonomous planetary exploration missions require advanced sensing capabilities for choosing proper landing areas for the vehicles. Current tools do not have the capability to allow vehicles outside the range of terrestrial control to autonomously perform safe landing operations. The Ocellus 3D lidar developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is a lightweight, small-footprint 3D lidar system for planetary and lunar exploration. The new 3D lidar can perform both altimetry (or range-finding) measurements from high altitudes and, at lower altitudes, terrain mapping and imaging. These measurements provide the necessary data for autonomous systems to select safe landing areas for planetary exploration vehicles. Developed to aid in the safe landing and navigation of the rotocopter for the Dragonfly mission to explore Titan, the Ocellus 3D lidar may be used for a wide variety of altimetry and terrain mapping purposes both in space and terrestrially.

High orbit satellite servicing and planetary science missions are presented with unique challenges, including a harsh environment and long mission life, coupled with the need for long range and high speed and accurate measurements. Conventional systems suffer from high costs of bringing other solutions to market and questionable reliability.

Scanning LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an advanced remote sensing technology that uses laser pulses to create high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of surfaces. Traditional LiDAR systems often lack control over uniform scanning patterns, leading to inefficient or redundant information over uniform terrains like deserts and oceans, resulting in unnecessary power consumption and data storage challenges. Scanned data is compressed because much of the data is duplicative and can waste LiDAR resources such as photons, power, and detector capacity while also burdening data transfer, storage, and processing systems. NASA engineers have developed a novel LiDAR approach utilizing compressive coded aperture scanning to address the inefficiencies of state-of-the-art LiDAR systems to build a 3D map of a selected area more efficiently. This method enhances photon efficiency by selectively omitting certain pixels during the scan and employing sophisticated algorithms to reconstruct the missing data, thereby optimizing resource utilization without compromising data quality.

In recent years, LiDAR innovations have significantly improved instrument sensitivity and efficiency while reducing size, weight, and power requirements. Future Earth and planetary science missions require more compact and efficient ranging LiDARs capable of probing multiple profiles and enabling 3D imaging. However, a key limitation is the size of available 1D detector arrays within LiDAR systems, which constrains the footprint swath. To address this challenge, engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed the LiDAR with Reduced-Length Linear Detector Array, an advancement in next-generation LiDAR technology that enables multi-track swath mapping with 3D imaging. This invention introduces new methods to minimize the required 1D detector array size, reduce speckle noise, and lower unwanted solar photon counts—without the need for additional gratings. By substantially decreasing form factor and power requirements while enhancing performance, this innovation provides users with greater operational flexibility and expanded capabilities while reducing costs.

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed an innovative algorithmic and computational approach to vision-based feature recognition called Anonymous Feature Processing (AFP). The ‘anonymous’ approach allows feature-based navigation techniques to be performed without the need for explicit correspondence/identification between visual system observations and cataloged map data, thus helping to eliminate costs and risks induced by identification procedures. By eliminating the error-prone and computationally burdensome identification and detection steps, AFP is designed to yield marked improvements in system robustness along with reducing algorithmic and software development costs. This novel method only requires a simple camera, or LIDAR sensor, and flight computer to track multiple targets and navigate vehicles more quickly, reliably, and safely. The AFP approach is adaptable to a wide range of sensor types and platforms, capable of supporting challenging space exploration and terrestrial navigation systems with low visibility conditions or with cluttered surroundings. A new technique such as AFP that eliminates preprocessing while adding system robustness could have commercial applications in autonomous vehicles, manufacturing, and research-based imaging.

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center have designed an electrode-based system for guidance, navigation and control of aircraft or spacecraft moving at hypersonic speeds in ionizing atmospheres. The system is composed of two electrodes that sit on the surface of a craft’s thermal protection system (TPS) and an electromagnet positioned beneath the craft’s TPS. The system operates based on the principles of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and uses energy harvested from the ionized flow occurring during flight at hypersonic speeds to power the electromagnet and generate extremely large Lorentz forces capable of augmenting lift and drag forces to steer and control the craft. The energy harvested can alternatively be stored for later use. NASA’s system is simpler than conventional methods for control of hypersonic craft (e.g., chemical propulsion, shifting flight center of gravity, or trim tabs) and enables new entry, descent, and landing mission architectures.

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center have designed an improved electrode-based system for guidance, navigation and control of aircraft or spacecraft moving at hypersonic speeds in ionizing atmospheres. The system is composed of two electrodes that are recessed into angled channels on the surface of a craft’s thermal protection system (TPS) and an electromagnet positioned beneath the craft’s TPS. The system operates based on the principles of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and uses energy harvested from the ionized flow occurring during flight at hypersonic speeds to power the electromagnet and generate large Lorentz forces capable of augmenting lift and drag forces to steer and control the craft. The energy harvested can alternatively be stored for later use. This improved design increases electrode separation from the shock layer and decreases thermal loads experienced by the electrodes to mitigate thermal degradation.

In order to overcome significant noise from solar background and backscatter this LIDAR system utilizes a laser light source that is azimuthally polarized or has Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM). A photon sieve is used to produce a ring pattern on the focal plane corresponding from the light of the return signal and causes stray light that is not polarized to produce a clustered region at the center of the ring pattern that is distinct from the laser return. The photon sieve can be used as the front end lens of a telescope or as an internal optical component after a traditional telescope. This technology can also be employed in encrypted communications and navigation.

NASA's Langley Research Center has made a breakthrough improvement in laser frequency modulation. Frequency modulation technology has been used for surface mapping and measurement in sonar, radar, and time-off-light laser technologies for decades. Although adequate, the accuracy of distance measurements made by these technologies can be improved by using a high-frequency triangular-waveform laser instead of a sine waveform or lower frequency radio or microwaves. This new system generates a triangular modulation waveform with improved linearity that makes possible precision laser radar (light detection and ranging [lidar]) for a variety of applications.

Researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center have developed a new coherent LiDAR (light detection and ranging) receiver compatible with high-energy fiber lasers. The hybrid receiver incorporates robust bulk optics (i.e., dielectric, coated optics) to handle high pulse energy where needed and fiber optics where damage tolerance is not critical. Commercially available receivers leveraging fiber optic components for metrology and remote sensing are not compatible lasers above ~100 micro-J. This restriction limits measurement distances to only a few kilometers out and to the lower atmosphere where aerosols are abundant. The new NASA design allows full advantage to be taken of novel high-energy pulsed laser technology to enable Doppler LiDAR measurements out to longer distances (> 10 km) and/or in conditions of lower aerosol backscatter for applications in markets including wind energy, aerospace & defense, and meteorology & environmental sensing.

Lunar landers are critical to enabling NASA’s mission of sustained human presence on the Moon. These spacecraft require advanced landing technologies (e.g., sensors, algorithms, navigation loops) to enable automated and precise entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on planetary surfaces. EDL operations rely on advanced, high-accuracy sensors that enhance navigation precision and improve the control performance of the spacecraft. These sensors must undergo rigorous testing and validation on Earth before mission use. To test EDL sensors today, organizations generally use helicopter or rocket flights to simulate lander trajectories. However, helicopters are not capable of achieving the rapid descents experienced by landers (due to vortex ring state). Rocket flights are expensive, high risk, often not repeatable, and cannot be performed in rapid succession. This limits the volume and quality of data available for EDL sensor verification and validation, making iterative testing and development slower and lower fidelity than desired. In response to this challenge, engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC) have developed an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed to fly trajectories with high similitude to those flown by lunar landers. The NASA invention is poised to enable rapid development and testing of EDL sensors and improve EDL sensor testing data quality at a fraction of the cost of alternative methods.

Inventors at the NASA Langley Research Center have designed innovative foldable large-scale parabolic reflectors. This solution addresses the challenges of scaling solid surface reflectors to beyond 10-meter diameter, enabling higher gains, improved data transfer rates, and superior overall performance. Leveraging an independently developed shape memory composite, two new foldable reflector architectures were designed that may be deployed through embedded compliant mechanisms. The concentric stack-and-connect architecture features a set of rigid reflective panels that packages concentrically while the umbrella architecture utilizes a thin shell reflective surface that stows like an umbrella. These designs overcome the scaling complexities of other solid reflectors and prioritize lightweight materials and high packing efficiency. The precisely controlled deployment mechanisms ensure accurate shaping and alignment, making it an ideal solution for space communications and radio astronomy.

SmallSats are experiencing increasing adoption in the satellite industry. While initially used primarily for technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit (LEO), enhanced capabilities have enabled SmallSat use for a broad number of applications. Today, sending small spacecraft beyond LEO to Lunar or deep space environments is attracting both scientific and commercial interest. Such missions are mass and volume constrained, yet must provide high data rate communications. Historically, patch antennas have been used for SmallSat communications. While new antenna technologies are in development, some are not optimized for size, mass, and performance - especially beyond LEO. Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center identified the need for a small form factor antenna to provide high data rate communications for such missions. In response, they developed a self-deployable helical antenna that is lightweight, low volume, and has low stowage thickness while delivering high data rate performance.

NASA is preparing for the next generation of CubeSats that are propelled and will make directional maneuvers. The new gimbal mount provides a seat for the motor and controls the position of the thrusters that propel the CubeSat as it moves about and/or changes orbits. This small-footprint device controls the rotation (360 degrees) and tilt (+/- 12 degrees) of a directional system to a very high accuracy (0.02 degrees). It alleviates the need for more traditional directional control hardware, including magnetorquers and magnetometers. The gimbal controls larger masses for its size than other positioning systems. It has a low parts count (six) and can support up to 0.5 kg mass. NASA built a prototype and conducted several tests to prove its control and precision capabilities, and its ability to withstand vibration testing. Now NASA seeks companies to commercialize the gimbal.