INTELLISENSE SYSTEMS INC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: Z8

Description

To address the NASA need for enabling communication and navigation technologies for distributed small spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit, Intellisense Systems Inc. (Intellisense) proposes to develop a new Miniature Interferometric CubeSat-Ready Optical Sub-arc-second Telescope Array (MICROSTAR) Star Tracker for optical navigation of distributed CubeSats. The proposed high-accuracy star tracker for low SWaP (lt;0.25 U) CubeSat attitude determination is based on multi-aperture interferometric fringe detection modules with no moving parts. The innovations in the use of the interferometry fringe methodology developed by NASArsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and its implementation in planar waveguide optics will enable a modular compact integration of the proposed system capable of long-term, high-accuracy attitude determination for robust CubeSats control. In Phase I, Intellisense will develop a viable conceptual design of MICROSTAR star tracker that satisfies NASArsquo;s navigation and absolute attitude determination requirements, including SWaP-C, absolute position, pointing and tracking, and power budget, demonstrate the designrsquo;s feasibility by prototyping and testing key enabling technologies, and develop a Phase II plan. In Phase II, Intellisense will develop a prototype of the MICROSTAR system that will be integrated with a commercial off-the-shelf 1 U CubeSat platform to support laboratory testing and field demonstration towards development into space-qualifiable and commercially available CubeSat sensor payloads.