A Concept for a Recoverable Microsatellite

抄録

MERS is a 50kg class LEO satellite which will provide a microgravity environment for experimental research and novel manufacturing, offering an alternative to the ISS when access is difficult or no longer available. It has been designed to fly in a wide range of orbits by carefully conceiving a payload data concept that enables almost infinite variety in the types of experiments which can be flown, while simultaneously allowing a simple and robust communication system design. Similarly, the power and thermal subsystems have been designed to ensure compatibility with this wide range of orbits. This makes the system highly flexible and therefore also responsive, in that it can fly as a co-passenger with a large number of other missions. What makes MERS most unique is that once the orbital experiment operations have been completed, the entire satellite then re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and lands safely on the ground, allowing users to obtain the finished results of their experiments.