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Demonstration of Rapid Development Through Containerization: OSE-SATModern advancements in spacecraft technology have enabled engineers to develop radically smaller and lighter spacecraft, which has drastically reduced the cost of putting spacecraft into space. Despite these advancements and the shrinking cost to get spacecraft into space, space exploration is still prohibitively expensive. So much so that many space missions prefer to err on the side of caution than take on additional risk by trying newer, unproven technologies. This risk-averse mission design, while very reasonable from a program management point of view, significantly impacts engineers’ ability to solve newer, more complicated problems and limits scientists’ ability to develop more complex experiments that rely on newer technology. Often these new technologies remain stuck at lower technology readiness levels for many years due to the space community's reluctance to take on the additional risks of proving out unproven technology. The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) team at NASA Ames Research Center is developing a containerized solution to enable the rapid development of newer space technologies and accelerate their adoption into space missions. The Opportunistic Software Experiments for Spacecraft Autonomy Testbeds (OSE-SAT) is an on-orbit test bed that aims to reduce the amount of risk associated with newer, unproven space technologies by containerizing each experiment in its own isolated environment and providing a safe, robust, and controlled interface to access spacecraft host resources that is monitored in real time by thoroughly tested Trusted Container developed by DSA. This paper will describe DSA’s implementation of OSE-SAT and discuss the benefits, as well as challenges, of on-orbit containerization.
Document ID
20240001671
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Aaron J Woodard
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, United States)
Caleb A Adams
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, United States)
Date Acquired
February 6, 2024
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing and Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium (4S Symposium)
Location: Palma De Majorca
Country: ES
Start Date: May 27, 2024
End Date: May 31, 2024
Sponsors: European Space Agency
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 582181.03.21.01.21.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Technical Review
Single Expert

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