Flexible Low Cost Avionics for NanoSatellite Launch Vehicle Control and GPS Metric Tracking, Phase I

The interest in CubeSats from both a spacecraft/payload and launch perspective has grown exponentially over the last decade. NASA has played a significant role in fostering the growth of the CubeSat community. Despite the growing interest in CubeSat and NanoSat missions, launch opportunities for this class of spacecraft are only available as secondary payloads. NASA and other government agencies have recently expressed interest in the development of small launch vehicles specifically designed to carry NanoSats as primary payloads. An example of this interest is a NASA Kennedy Space Center RFQ titled "Nano-Satellite Launch" (Solicitation # NNK11LB41Q). This RFQ will provide an ideal platform to develop and demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of the avionics suite being proposed. If awarded Phase I, Tyvak can work closely together with the winning contractor of NNK11LB41Q, Garvey Spacecraft Corporation (GSC), to define the avionics requirements. If awarded the SBIR Phase II, Tyvak will develop flight hardware for integration and testing on these flight opportunities. In the past, Tyvak personnel have worked with multiple Prospector high altitude flights, providing a P-POD deployer and backup LV avionics packages. In addition, Tyvak was awarded a NASA contract to develop a CubeSat deployer for use in NLV. As part of this contract Tyvak is working closely with GSC to incorporate Tyvak development hardware in additional Prospector flights. More »