Miniaturization - Looking back to look ahead

Abstract

For the last several years, there has been an upsurge of interest in miniaturizing spacecraft for all types of applications. The high cost of launch, breakthroughs in miniature technology, and ever-increasing budget constraints have combined to produce an unprecedented concentration on the “faster-better-cheaper” philosophy. Since a major part of this approach is to shrink spacecraft and their components as much as possible, it’s important to realize that spacecraft miniaturization is not a new concept. The same challenge was addressed and solved in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Over thirty years ago, the U.S. flew electronic intelligence spacecraft weighing under 20 kilograms (kg); science satellites as small as 1 kg: and small satellites for weather, navigation, radiation detection, and the monitoring of nuclear tests. All this was done with technology now considered more Stone Age than Space Age. The reason for looking back at this “primitive” era is that the challenges involved were the same as today’s. Constrained by boosters of very limited capacity, satellite designers had no choice but to pare missions down to, their essential functions, devise ingenious technical shortcuts, and push miniaturization technology as far as it could go. This paper traces the heritage of miniature spacecraft technology from those distant beginnings to the present day. While there were and are some limits to miniaturization, understanding how far we’ve come enables us to see just what we can do with small spacecraft and how much more could be done applying the same philosophy but using the technology of the 21”’ century.