SMALL SPACECRAFT STATE OF THE ART IN GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION, AND CONTROL

The advancement of small spacecraft systems and concepts is an ongoing interest in the space community as advanced technology continues to develop to support innovative space science exploration. The Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) identifies emerging small spacecraft technology and opportunities to facilitate the collaboration and dissemination of research results that is relevant to promoting space science research. This paper highlights the components of the Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) subsystem of small spacecraft and provides specific performance characteristics and Technology Readiness Level (TRL) values for each component. The content below is not intended to be exhaustive but a snapshot of current small spacecraft GNC capabilities. A key element of S3VI's charter is that it serves to provide the small spacecraft research community at large with access to mission enabling information. Through a collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Dynamics Laboratory, the S3VI supports the continued development and management of a small spacecraft parts database called SmallSat Parts On Orbit Now (SPOON) that hosts performance and technical specifications for parts and technologies developed by industry, academia and government. The Small Spacecraft Technology State of the Art report encompasses select small spacecraft parts submitted to the SPOON database along with parts compiled from other sources determined to be in the class representing the current state of the art of small spacecraft technologies in each of the major subsystems. The 2018 State of the Art survey results in the guidance, navigation, and control subsystem for small spacecraft will be presented.