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Launch Systems | Space Systems | Mission Engineering

Affordable Space Systems

Made possible through Innovation

Space Mission Engineering

As we define it, mission (and systems) engineering is the process that takes a set of broad objectives and constraints and then proceeds to define an affordable space system to meet them.

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Launch Systems

Microcosm has an extensive history of launch vehicle design, development, and test programs since 1993, focused on a low-cost, responsive launch capability that truly changes the game in the aerospace industry.

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Composite Structures

The unibody pressurized composite spacecraft structure acts as one unified structure that integrates the propellant tank and does not require additional support elements of any kind.

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Astronautics Courses

Microcosm has provided advanced mission engineering training to over 3000 professional and graduate student participants in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America.

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SmallSats

Microcosm has developed a family of low cost, highly agile spacecraft that can support a range of missions in low, medium, and geosynchronous Earth orbits, along with interplanetary missions.

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Quantifying the Cost Reduction Potential for Earth Observation Satellites

In the present budget environment, there is a strong need to dramatically drive down the cost of space missions. There is the perception that SmallSats are inherently much lower cost than more traditional larger satellites and can play a central role in reducing overall space mission cost, but this effect has been difficult to quantify. Without quantifiable evidence of their value, SmallSats are under-utilized as a method for reducing space mission cost. 

The Scorpius low-cost launch vehicle architecture greatly reduces the cost of space access due to its emphasis on designing specifically for low total life cycle cost. Due to its simplicity, a pressure-fed launch vehicle is low in cost compared with pump-fed and solid rockets. The pressure-fed approach in the Scorpius architecture is enabled by the development of all-composite propellant and pressurization tanks, which have about half the mass of metallic tanks.

Reinventing Disaster Reconnaissance through Space Assets

When a disaster occurs, an aggressive machine of governments, agencies, and volunteers immediately reacts to the event with a lack of information. Currently, agencies rely on unstable communications, perhaps UAV passes (which may be politically limited), or, hours later, space assets.

Microcosm, Inc. is a recognized world leader in space mission engineering and techniques for reducing cost.