Big topics can come out of small packages.

The NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program hosted the second Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) Parts for Small Missions Workshop on Sept. 10-11, 2014, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

This workshop, which was open to national and international commercial industry, universities, and other government agencies, followed an internal NASA EEE parts workshop held in 2013.

NEPP Program Co-Manager Ken LaBel kicked off the event with an introduction and overview of NEPP. “The real purpose [of the workshop] is to aid the community in understanding risks with EEE parts and open a forum for discussion both now and in the future,” said LaBel.

The focus on small missions is particularly relevant in today’s economic climate. “Because of our current atmosphere with an emphasis on affordability, there’s an increased interest in smallsats, particularly CubeSat, to do real science with an inexpensive payload,” said NEPP Program Co-Manager Michael Sampson. “And the capability is improving all the time.”

The first day of the workshop covered CubeSat topics from NASA and European Space Agency presenters, basic concepts including environmental challenges for the use of EEE parts in space and parts assurance, and the risks of using commercial-off-the-shelf electronics for spacecraft from NASA and industry presenters. The second day of the workshop featured presentations on approaches to small missions (under 500 kg with an emphasis of under 100kg for the workshop), EEE parts qualification, and NEPP tasks with presenters from NASA, national and international industry, and universities.

The workshop featured a keynote presentation by Professor Michael Swartwout of Saint Louis University on the success rate statistics provided by the first 272 CubeSats, and concluded with a panel discussion.

The meeting was held onsite and online, and had over 300 registrants.

Next year’s workshop is tentatively set for June 23-26, and will be a combined NEPP Electronics Technology and CubeSat EEE Parts Workshop. It will be held onsite at GFSC and online.

The NEPP Program is led by NEPP Co-Managers LaBel and Sampson. The workshop presentations are available for download. For more information about the workshop or NEPP, visit the NEPP website.