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Fleet chart of smallsats currently in orbit
A researcher bends forward to reach into a 3D frame to manipulate the technology suspended in the center via mounting hardware and surrounded by black and red wires and a blue cable.
Team members install solar panels onto the CAPSTONE spacecraft – short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment – at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. in Irvine, California.

Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute

The Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) is chartered to perform the following: establish effective conduits for collaboration and the dissemination of information to increase overall awareness of NASA small spacecraft programs, opportunities and activities; capture and share best practices, emerging technology opportunities, and data; facilitate and execute special studies; and conduct external workshops and public events to share mission-enabling information with the small spacecraft community.

Learn More about Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute

Solicitation

Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO) Solicitation

In collaboration with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, DARPA recently released the Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO) solicitation. LASSO aims to enable a novel mission design and related technologies to identify the volume and location of resources available on, or just under, the surface of the Moon. The program is designed to advance U.S. commercial capabilities in cislunar space and to map probable reserves of water across the entire lunar surface through remote sensing measurements taken in a very low-altitude lunar orbit.

For more information about the solicitation and associated deadlines, please visit: https://sam.gov/opp/e60194d9d81e4304aa1239259aa30d90/view

Register for Proposers Day by May 7th at 1200 ET (limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents): https://events.sa-meetings.com/website/84635/

Learn More about Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter (LASSO) Solicitation
moon
This composite image of the moon using Clementine data from 1994 is the view we are most likely to see when the moon is full.
Credit: NASA

S3VI small spacecraft artist rendering collage

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Quarterly Resource Brief

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Small Satellite Missions Blog

NASA’s Latest CubeSat Launches to Earth’s Thermosphere

Read More about Small Satellite Missions Blog
A NASA-developed CubeSat, Technology Education Satellite 22 (TES-22), launched at 10:49 a.m. PST on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:09 a.m. PST, Tuesday, Jan. 14, carrying the NASA-developed CubeSat, Technology Education Satellite 22 (TES-22).
Credit: SpaceX

Technology Tools and Resources

MarCO smallsat

SmallSat Reliability Initiative Knowledge Base

A comprehensive online tool that consolidates and organizes resources, best practices, and lessons learned from previous small satellite missions. This tool aims to improve mission confidence for future small spacecraft.

Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art Report 2024 Edition

Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art Report

This report focuses on the spacecraft system in its entirety, provides current best practices for integration, and then presents the state of the art for each specific spacecraft subsystem.

A screen shot from a video shows a black page with thin colored lines in the shape of overlapping ribbons, with blue from the left meeting red from the right to describe a spacecraft orbit.

Space Mission Design Tools

A list of software tools found useful in the development of small spacecraft missions. This list is restricted to publicly available software from NASA or the Open Source community.

S3VI Information Search

Small Spacecraft Information Search

S3VI's federated search capability serves as an entry point to the SmallSat Parts On Orbit Now (SPOON) database and other NASA-internal and external databases to allow the public to search multiple databases for small spacecraft parts, technologies and conference proceedings.

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