Currently, since all NASA cubesats are manifested as secondary payloads on launch vehicles carrying a large satellite, their deployment location is limited by the orbit characteristics of the primary payload. This greatly constrains the ability to deploy a highly-functional cubesat in a desired location to obtain "high-value science" from low-cost small spacecraft. Availability of the proposed on-board propulsion system is expected to enable significant post-deployment maneuverability, thereby allowing for much-needed orbit phasing and drag makeup capability to achieve several application-specific goals (e.g. science return).
The proposed on-board propulsion capability is also expected to allow for controlled re-entry and recovery for cubesats from orbits as high as 450km, and to enable orbit changing maneuvers in very small NRO-class missions (e.g., rapidly distributing a constellation around an orbital plane, changing overpass time of a given location in a sun-synchronous orbit, or lowering the perigee of an orbit over a particular latitude "on-demand" to enable improved resolution for reconnaissance missions).
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