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Tiny Satellites Have MEMS Switches.
Engineers from the Aerospace Corp. (2350 El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245; Tel: 310/336-5000, Fax: 31-/336-7055) have established two-way communications with the smallest satellites ever released into orbit. The two picosatellites measure 4 in. by 3 in. by 1 in., and weigh less than .5-lb each. In passes over the ground station at Menlo Park, California, on two evenings, the engineers received data and transmitted commands.
It was determined that the tethered satellites were released from their 'mother' satellite, OPAL (Orbiting Picosat Automated Launcher), built by students at Stanford University. The satellites have been commanded to exercise MEMS radio frequency switches designed by Rockwell Science Center (Thousand Oaks, CA). The switches are the primary mission payload.
The picosatellites were designed and built by The Aerospace Corp. (El Segundo, CA) under DARPA funding. Aerospace tested and integrated the satellite components and conceived the mission. The picosatellites are considered a link toward slightly larger and more sophisticated nanosatellites envisioned as tiny space workhorses of the future.
Dan Oltrogge, head of Aerospace's tracking team, compared locating the tiny picosatellites to finding a "needle in a haystack." He credited the U.S. Space Command's Space Surveillance Network (Colorado Springs, CO) with getting a good fix on the satellites. Thin strands of gold to facilitate radar pickup are located in a tether connecting the two satellites.
OPAL was released by the Joint Air Force Academy Weber State University Satellite (JAWSAT), and the picosatellites were released from OPAL. The mission also included a new four-stage launch vehicle - the Air Force's Orbital Suborbital Program Space Launch Vehicle, constructed from refurbished Minuteman II rocket motors and Pegasus XL motors - and a succession of satellite deployments.
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