Issued patent
SmallSat Standardized Architecture
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
Over the past decade, SmallSats have been established as having great potential for science exploration and commercialization of space. SmallSats aim to decrease the cost of space development, making space exploration more accessible. Space agencies, as well as the commercial and defense sectors, are considering innovative uses of disaggregated SmallSat constellations to accomplish the same objectives previously achievable by large singular spacecrafts, which have long lead times and high cost. Smaller satellites can be launched more affordably by launching with larger primary payloads. In general, SmallSats represent an emerging class of satellites, with small size, mass, and cost.