EAGER: Ideas Lab: CubeSat Innovations

University Corporation For Atmospheric Res, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project will support an interactive workshop to facilitate generation of innovative ideas to advance CubeSat-based science investigations of the geospace environment. The CubeSat Ideas Lab workshop will bring together researchers from the geospace and various engineering disciplines to form interdisciplinary teams and develop innovative ideas for building cost-effective constellations or swarms of 10-100 CubeSats. The workshop will also address approaches in utilizing CubeSats for educating, training, and developing a cross-disciplinary workforce. CubeSats represent an increasing trend towards pursuing space-based research in a multitude of disciplines, including Space Science, Astronomy, Earth Science, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This project will organize an Ideas Lab to develop innovative ideas that have the potential to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in CubeSat technology and science. The Ideas Lab process has a proven track record of engaging scientists and stakeholders from across disciplines in the creation of innovative scientific endeavors. This Ideas Lab will bring together researchers from the geospace and various engineering disciplines engaged in CubeSat research to form interdisciplinary teams with the goal of developing innovative and transformative ideas that will eventually be submitted as full proposals. The proposal concepts developed at this Ideas Lab will address key challenges in building cost-effective constellations or swarms of 10-100 CubeSats for geospace investigations. The Ideas Lab will support integration of transformative ideas from several domains; from hardware to software to applications. Design concepts developed in this Ideas Lab will also address approaches in utilizing CubeSats for educating, training, and developing a cross-disciplinary workforce. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.