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Vision for Microtechnology Space Missions 31

device. This particular area, focused on finding new and better ways to more closely
couple the MEMS electronics and mechanical subelements, can potentially have
high payoffs and should not be overlooked as an important research topic.
Lastly it is important to acknowledge that a unified ‘‘big picture’’ systems
approach to exploiting and infusing MEMS technology in future space missions is
currently lacking and, perhaps worse, nonexistent. While there are clearly many
localized centers of excellence in MEMS microsystem and device technology
development within academia, industry, nonprofit laboratories, and federal govern-
ment facilities, there are few, if any, comparable MEMS systems engineering and
integration centers of excellence. Large numbers of varied MEMS ‘‘standalone’’
devices are being designed and developed, but there is not enough work being done
currently on approaches, methods, tools, and processed to integrate heterogenous
MEMS elements together in a ‘‘system of systems’’ fashion. For example, in the
case of the affordable microsatellite discussed earlier, it is not at all clear how one
would go about effectively and efficiently integrating a MEMS microthruster or a
MEMS microgyro with other MEMS-based satellite elements such as a command
or telemetry system, a power system, or on-board flight processor. We certainly
should not expect to be building future space systems extensively composed of
MEMS microsystems and devices using the integration and interconnection ap-
proaches currently employed. These are typically labor-intensive processes using
interconnection technologies that are both physically cumbersome and resource
(power or mass) consuming. The cost economies and resource benefits of using
miniature mass-produced MEMS-based devices may very well be lost if a signifi-
cant level of ‘‘hands-on’’ manual labor is required to integrate the desired final
payload or platform system. Furthermore, it is quite reasonable to expect that future
space systems will have requirements for MEMS-based payloads and platforms that
are both modular and easily reconfigurable in some ‘‘plug and play’’ fashion. The
work to date on such innovative technology as MEMS harnesses and MEMS
switches begins to address this interconnection or integration need, but significant
work remains to be done in the MEMS flight system engineering arena. In the near
future, to aid in solving the dual scale (macro-to-MEMS) integration problem,
researchers could pursue ways to better exploit newly emerging low power or
radiation hard microelectronics packaging and high-density interconnect technolo-
gies as well as Internet-based wireless command or telemetry interface technology.
Researchers should also evaluate methods to achieve a zero integration time (ZIT)
goal for MEMS flight systems using aspects of today’s plug and play component
technology, which utilizes standard data bus interfaces. Later on, we most likely
will need to identify entirely new architectures and approaches to accomplish the
goal of simply and efficiently interconnecting MEMS microsystems and devices
composed of various types of metals, ceramics, plastics, and exotic materials.
Balancing our collective technological investments between the intellectually
stimulating goal of developing the next best MEMS standalone device in the
laboratory and the real world problem that will be faced by industry of effectively
integrating MEMS-based future space systems is a recommended strategy for
ultimate success. Significant investments are required to develop new space system

© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC