Space Force sees value in spinoff tech launched from USA research funded by FTPP, CPU2AL grants
A spinoff company formed from research partially supported by FTPP has attracted a venture capital firm and a $1.9 million U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to produce single-board satellites that measure space weather and have attracted the interest of the U.S. Space Force.
“A single-board satellite is an entire satellite on a single printed circuit board, able to be mass-produced in any printed circuit board assembly house in the U.S.,” says Dr. Edmund Spencer, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Alabama (USA), whose basic research underpins spinoff company Aspect Aerospace. Aspect Aerospace was co-founded by Dr. Spencer, Dr. Samuel Russ and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Russ in 2023.
“The tiny single-board satellites will be housed in a larger box satellite, launched via a rocket into space, and then released,” Dr. Spencer says.
FTTP is Future Technologies & enabling Plasma Processes, a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation through its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research that is managed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville and supports a collaboration of nine statewide universities and a research organization dedicated to plasma research, commercialization and the establishment of a plasma workforce in Alabama.
space industry in mobile
“Aspect Aerospace is a new company consisting of satellite designers and builders with flight heritage,” says Dr. Spencer, who has been at USA since 2013. “Our goal is to leverage this tech to create a space industry in Mobile, Alabama. I am eager to move forward with the engineering work.”
The 18-month Direct to Phase II SBIR grant was awarded directly to Aspect Aerospace and is administered by the DOD through the U.S. Space Force.
In addition, Aspect Aerospace has partnered with global, multi-stage venture capital firm SOSV, which funds deep technology company founders who are intent on making a profound impact on human and planetary health.
“We expect to better understand the current space weather conditions in low Earth orbit and very low Earth orbit to inform the U.S. Space Force while they conduct their operations,” Dr. Spencer says. “The reason for Space Force’s involvement is due to our single-board satellite’s capacity for making distributed space weather measurements to improve space situational awareness for U.S. space-based assets.”
In space, each tiny satellite’s probe will excite the plasma around it and observe the resulting natural resonances in the ionospheric plasma environment. Ionospheric plasma consists of electrons, atomic and molecular ions and neutral particles whose concentration and temperature depend on geophysical conditions, latitude, longitude, season, local time and solar and magnetic activities.
“By interpreting these resonances, the instrument will report the local plasma density in the Earth’s ionosphere,” Dr. Spencer says. “The key strength of our single-board satellites is miniaturization and the embedded space weather situational awareness capability.”
plasma conditions map
Once these tiny single-board satellites are launched from a larger satellite in a timed manner, their data can be stitched together to build a map of plasma conditions around the Earth, he says.
Research funded by the FTPP predecessor grant called Connecting the Plasma Universe to Plasma Technology in Alabama (CPU2AL) propelled the development of the impedance probe that rides on each tiny satellite and measures plasma density.
“The CPU2AL funding helped us develop the technology for the space weather sensor, as well as partially supporting the launch of a complete CubeSat called Jagsat-1 that employed the sensor,” Dr. Spencer says.
CPU2AL also supported the development of a USA ground station to facilitate satellite communications.
FTPP funding to USA has helped to further development of the space weather sensor and prepare for commercialization. FTPP also is funding development of new plasma sensor technologies.