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Vision for Microtechnology Space Missions 27

architects. New capabilities such as this will generate new concepts of space
operations to perform existing missions and, of greater import, to enable entirely
new types of missions.
Furthermore, because the per unit spacecraft cost has been made low enough
through the infusion of MEMS technology, the concept of flying ‘‘replaceable’’
microsatellites is both technically and economically feasible. In such a mission
concept, the requirements for redundancy or reliability will be satisfied at the
spacecraft level, not at the subsystem level where it typically occurs in today’s
design paradigm. In other words, MEMS-based technology, together with appro-
priate new approaches to lower spacecraft-level integration, test and launch costs,
could conceivably make it economical to simply perform an on-orbit spacecraft
replacement of a failed spacecraft. This capability opens the door to create new
operational concepts and mission scenarios.

2.3.3 SCIENCE SENSORS AND INSTRUMENTATION
As described in Chapter 7 of this book, the research topic of MEMS-based science
sensors and instruments is an incredibly rich one. Scientists and MEMS technolo-
gists are collaborating to first envision and then rapidly develop highly integrated,
miniaturized, low-mass and power-efficient sensors for both science and explor-
ation missions. The extreme reductions in sensor mass and power attainable via
MEMS technology will make it possible to fly multiple high-performance instru-
mentation suites on microsatellites, nanosatellites, planetary landers, and autono-
mous rovers, entry probes, and interplanetary platforms. The ability to integrate
miniaturized sensors into lunar or planetary In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)
systems and/or robotic arms, manipulators, and tools (i.e., a drill bit) will have high
payoff on future exploration missions. Detectors for sensing electromagnetic fields
and particles critical to several future science investigations of solar terrestrial
interactions are being developed in a MEMS format. Sensor technologies using
micromachined optical components, such as microshutters and micromirrors for
advanced space telescopes and spectrometers, are also coming of age. One exciting
research area is the design and development of adaptive optics devices made up of
either very dense arrays of MEMS micromirrors or membrane mirrors to perform
wavefront aberration correction functions in future space observatories. These
technologies have the potential to replace the very expensive and massive high-
precision optical mirrors traditionally employed in large space telescopes. Several
other MEMS-based sensing systems are either being actively developed or are
in the early stages of innovative design. Examples of these include, but are not
limited to, micromachined mass spectrometers (including MEMS microvalves) for
chemical analysis, microbolometers for infrared spectrometry, and entire labora-
tory-on-a-chip device concepts. One can also envision MEMS-based environmental
and state-of-health monitoring sensors being embedded into the structures of
future space transportation vehicles and habitats on the lunar (or eventually on a
planetary) surface as described in the following section on exploration applications
for MEMS.

© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC