AstroSats 2016 - Astronomy Satellites Workshop

The purpose of AstroSats 2016 is to bring together the astronomical research and satellite engineering communities to explore science cases and astronomical instrumentation concepts suitable for small satellite balloon missions. The program will include an update of the Australian Space Eye project and explore viable future missions.

The goal is to identify well-justified and viable missions taking advantage of the facilities and capabilities at Australian institutions, including those at The Australian National University Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC), that could be funded within existing grant schemes. The workshop will seek to define appropriate staged targets for the short (1-2 years), medium (3-5 years) and long term (up to 10 years).

The workshop is intended for astronomers with ideas for small space missions and those interested in finding out what is now possible with small satellites and balloons. Participants will include:

People who have ideas for small satellite or balloon missions
People who want to use scientific data from this class of mission
People developing satellite sub-systems and support systems
People who have experience with satellite and balloon programs
People who wish to be part of the teams that will build these missions

Workshop Program

Time	Description	Room
	Introduction and updates
9:00	Welcome - Matthew Colless Overview of current situation - Naomi Mathers Status and funding for space activities in Australia Examples of what is being done in the rest of the world Opportunities and challenges Update on Australian Space Eye project Science - Lee Spitler / Matthew Colless Current design - Anthony Horton Technical challenges - Anthony Horton / Mike Petkovic / Jordi Puig Suari Budget and funding - Lee Spitler / Mike Petkovic ADCS options for CubeSats - Jordi Puig-Suari (Skype) Jan King: 2 talks via Skype: a. Communication solutions for CubeSats: "Antarctic Broadband - A Follow-up 5 years later" b. "6U: an open architecture platform"	Duffield Lecture Theatre
11:00	Morning tea	CSO Common Room
	Introduction and updates - continuation
11:30	Communication solutions for CubeStas: Sam Reisenfeld Satellite Operations: Jason Held	Duffield Lecture Theatre
12:00	Future Missions Part A (10 min presentation, 5 min Q&A) 12:00: Francis Bennet: "Space based flux detector and retroreflector" 12:15: Christopher Betters: "Modular micro-spectrograph for integration in cube-sat based systems"	Duffield Lecture Theatre
12:30	Lunch	CSO Common Room
1:30	Future Missions Part B (10 min presentation, 5 min Q&A) 1:30: Andrew Sheinis: “Spatial Heterodyne Spectrographs for MicroSat Missions” 1:45: Mervyn Lynch: “A Cubesat Beacon for the Correction of Ionospheric Faraday Rotation in Low-frequency Radio Signals” 2:00: Mervyn Lynch: “Astronomy-Earth Observing Synergy: A Space-based Bioluminescence Sensor” 2:15: Jason Held: “Morphable Avionics for autonomous error correction of imagery products" 2:30: Lucia Plank: “Australian Geodesy Satellite”	Duffield Lecture Theatre
2:45	Afternoon tea	CSO Common Room
3:15	Discussion and evaluation of pitches/ideas
	Facilitated workshop to evaluate mission concepts. Identify immediate and long-term opportunities, appropriate funding sources and potential project partners.	CSO Common Room
5:00	End