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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading Edge Engineering from the 1996 NAE Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering (1997) / Chapter Skim
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Silicone Satellites
Pages 83-85

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From page 83...
... · Rapid prototype production capability using electronic circuit, sensor, and MEMS design libraries with existing (and future) CAD/CAM tools and semiconductor foundries.
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From page 84...
... Semiconductor batch-fabrication techniques enable us to produce lowpower digital circuits, low-power analog circuits, silicon-based radio frequency circuits, and MEMS, such as thrusters and acceleration sensors, on silicon substrates. By exploiting these fabrication techniques, as well as by developing laser-based techniques, we will be able to mass produce highly integrated satellites for a number of applications.
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From page 85...
... Local cluster configuration can be maintained by using active thrusting or by appropriate choice of individual spacecraft orbital elements. Local clusters with effective diameters of greater than 10 km can be created by using several thousand silicon nanosatellites.
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Key Terms

  • distributed satellite
  • crystal silicon
  • earth orbit
  • single crystal
  • local clusters

  • radio frequency
  • limiting orbit
  • cloud cover
  • silicon wafers
  • produce highly

  • interconnected modules
  • frequency circuits
  • semiconductor foundries
  • acceleration sensors
  • spacecraft owing

  • sensing capability
  • mems technology
  • capable microsatellites
  • personal communications
  • thousand silicon

  • accurate knowledge
  • cluster configuration
  • geosynchronous earth
  • data paths
  • satellite design

  • provide reliable
  • using active
  • techniques enable
  • rapid prototype
  • enable silicon


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