Hyper-XACT, A Long-Life, High-Performance Attitude Determination & Control System

Completed TRL 8 (started at 4, targeting 8)

Description

The Hyper-XACT was intended to extend the capabilities of CubeSat attitude control systems for longer duration missions with tighter performance requirements by improving pointing performance, radiation tolerance, reliability, and system life. The effort was terminated upon programmatic and technical issues.

Benefits

The Hyper-XACT is intended to provide significantly higher pointing accuracy and knowledge along with higher radiation tolerance and longer life when compared to the current state of the art in CubeSat attitude control systems. These improved capabilities can help enable longer duration CubeSat missions, deep space CubeSat missions, and missions requiring high pointing accuracy for scientific observation.

Details

Technology area	GN&C > GN&C Systems Engineering Technologies > GN&C Fault Management, Fault Tolerance, and Autonomy
Program	Small Spacecraft Technology (SST)
Lead organization	Blue Canyon Technologies, LLC, Boulder, CO
Start date	2015-12-01
End date	2021-04-01

Project contacts

Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.

John Carvo

How to get involved

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.