Call for Abstracts: Nanosatellites Deployed from Carrier Spacecraft: A Paradigm Shift in Planetary Sciences?

Session PS1.3/GI2.13 at EGU 2015 Abstracts are due 07 January 2015

Across the planetary science community, there is an increasing interest in carrying secondary spacecraft on-board larger missions to planets, moons, asteroids and comets. This tendency is significantly inspired by the relative ease and sinking price of building nano-satellites. Both space agencies and companies have been proposing design concepts for such carriers. The idea of deploying a number of small spacecraft around a celestial body provides new and unseen scientific opportunities for advanced studies. Those may for instance take advantage of operating in an interconnected cloud or constellation. Individual inexpensive nano-satellites deployed from a carrier can also take greater exploration risks than would be possible for an expensive integrated spacecraft. This session invites contributions discussing the scientific potential of hosted nano-satellites, new instruments suited to the limited volume and power on nano-satellites, mission concepts and associated challenges as well as possible solutions.

Further information & abstract submission: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/session/18433

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015

Vienna, Austria

12-17 April 2015