Small Business Aspects of New Commercial Space

Dr. Don Platt

President & CEOMicro Aerospace Solutions

907 East Strawbridge Ave Suite 103Melbourne, FL 32901dplatt@micro-a.net

Micro Aerospace Solutions

•Why do it from space?•Many phenomena are best observed with a

global view (synoptic)• Atmosphere and ocean dynamics• Geological structure • Biological phenomena• Can observe over a long time period (seasonal or

climatic change)• Can observe inaccessible areas

•Can observe the entire globe (or most of it) within a relatively short period of time. •Measurements can be repeated over and over again

Why do business in space?

Space-Based Remote Sensing

•A 50 kg can provide ~2.5m resolution on ground from a polar 700 km orbit•A smaller satellite (5kg cubesat) may be able to

provide 7.5 m resolution (not demonstrated)•Multi-wavelength remote sensing can provide

information about:• Plant health/stress levels• Nutrient requirements• Vegetation coverage• Soil condition• Silt levels in water

Small Satellites

•Defined as satellites with mass < 100 kilograms•Nanosatellites 1 kg to 10 kg•Picosatellites 1 kg (cubesats)•These satellites are becoming more sophisticated •Need propulsion for pointing, attitude control and Delta-v

Small Remote Sensing Satellites

•Complete spacecraft under 10 kilograms mass•Can create sensor webs•Swarms can map the Earth or other objects from

many perspectives at once•Redundant and disposable spacecraft

Background

• Micro Aerospace Solutions (MAS) • Small business established in 2000 with offices in Melbourne, Florida & KSC• Engineering company experienced in the cubesat and small satellite

industry• Propulsion system research and development• Avionics and electronics system design, development, build & test• Systems engineering and project management• Space Act agreement with NASA KSC for use of test facilities• Space-based software development and flight projects

Propulsion Systems

• MAS designed, developed, built and is testing a unique tridyne warm gas propulsion system for small satellites • Other systems include hydrazine, hydrogen

peroxide and gel-based systems• Our propulsion system expertise involves

interfacing with vendors for system components including valve, electronics and machine shop suppliers to ensure timely system development

Avionics and Electronics

• Design, build & test radiation tolerant, low-cost electronics for space applications• Microcontroller systems, control systems,

imaging systems, scientific sensors and display systems• Implement radiation mitigation

techniques to allow commercial electronics to be used in space applications• Designing avionics and leading avionics

systems management for NASA Sunjammer mission• Contract with Space Florida to develop a

cubesat deployable antenna

NASA Certified Flight and Ground Software Development

• Micro Aerospace Solutions is compliant with all NASA mission critical software requirements including NPR 7150.2A, NASA-STD 8719.13, and NASA-STD 8739.8• Developing flight and ground software for

the NASA Sunjammer solar sail mission• PRCU verified ISS EXPRESSRack interfaces

for ISS experiments• Tablet-based decision support systems for

exploration • Developed software for Zero-G airplane

flight experiments

MAS IMU Product Line

• Micro Aerospace Solutions has developed MEMS-based inertial sensor technology into inertial measurement units (IMUs) for small satellite attitude detection systems • We have developed the MASIMU01, MEMS-

based inertial measurement unit which flew in space on the University of Texas’ FASTRAC microsatellite for the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). Launch was in November 2010• Developed specialized units for a variety of

aerospace applications• ITAR licensed for export

Biotube/MFA ISS Experiment

• Designed the command and data handling system and flight software for the Biotube/MFA experiment that flew onboard Columbia on STS-107 • Updated all flight and ground software for the ISS

EXPRESSRack Interface• Successful flight operations on ISS, May 2014

MAS Summary

•15 years in the aerospace industry•Diverse engineering capability•Innovative & low-cost customer solutions•Knowledge in commercial and government space domains

Small business challenges

•Funding•Facilities•Know-how•Cash flow•Intellectual property•Life cycles

Funding

•How to fund your business?•Venture capital • is there any for space businesses?

•Bootstrap•How do you get your first customer?

•Government contracts• SBIRs – innovation but difficult to commercialize• 6 to 7% fee (profit)• Can take a while to get funded

Facilities

• Launch pads aren’t just lying around•Manufacturing• Tight tolerances• Composites• 3-D printing• Skilled labor

• Test• EMI• Vibration• Thermal-vac

•Could collaborate with government entities• Subject to vagaries of agency needs and priorities

Know-how

•Do everything in-house?• Such as SpaceX•Need many disciplines

•Farm out work•Whats your core capability?

•Use contract hires to meet short term needs•How to attract and retain good talent?•Benefits• Flexibility• Involvement/engagement

Cash flow

•What to do about slow payers?•Short term loans•Lines of credit•Negotiate better terms?

•Use SBIRs to keep people busy, pay bills•Again need to think about commercialization

•How to pay for a launch that may fail?

Intellectual Property

•How to safeguard your ideas•Large companies have many lawyers

•Patents care costly and even more costly to enforce•Attractive if you want to license technology to someone else•Be careful someone else doesn’t already own your great idea

Life Cycles

•Space typical involves long life cycles•Missions may take years to launch•What if you want to mine asteroids that are a long way from Earth?•Courtship with large organizations can take years to see fruition

Skybox

•Teaming with Google to offer strategic imaging•Commodity, commercial electronics to change the cost of doing business in space•Acquired by Google for $500M

Planet Labs

•28 satellite Earth-imaging constellation in space (cubesats)•Global imaging network•Ability to understand and respond to change at a local and global scale

Prometheus

•8 Cubesat constellation•Determine whether a constellation of CubeSats working together can meet the needs of America’s Special Operation Forces•Use as “gap fillers” to meet urgent needs•Take audio, video and data files from remote monitoring units on the ground and transfer them to military units

NRO Cubesats

•Lower cost and in a quicker time frame than traditional NRO programs•September 13, 2012, 7 NRO CubeSats launched payloads on NROL-36

Student Involvement

Mass Production

•Cost-effective as apposed to customization (lean)•Constellations increase numbers – leads to mass production•Skybox using an auto assembly line

Standard Buses

•Cubesat standard•Standard data interfaces•Issue of flexibility vs rigidization•Allows mass production

3D Printing

•Made In Space•3D printing on ISS

•3D print cubesats on the ISS

Conclusion

•Small Satellites are a big part of the future of commercial space•Constellations are driving new manufacturing techniques (mass production, 3D printing)•Florida is playing a big part in this new domain

Questions?

Dr. Don PlattPresident & CEO

Micro Aerospace Solutions907 East Strawbridge Ave Suite 103

Melbourne, FL 32901321 243 4633

dplatt@micro-a.net