10,000 Drones Are Headed To Saturn’s Rings

So, if you aren’t familiar with the NIAC Awards, it’s run by NASA, and it provides grants combining $3.2 million USD, to projects that are worthy of a nine month initial investigation.

This one has caught my eye….

Michael Rubenstein
Northwestern University, Chicago

We propose a mission to use ~10,000 actively steerable femtosats to map the ring composition, atmospheric composition and density, and the magnetic field distribution of Saturn. Conducting in-situ surveys of Saturn’s rings with a single flagship mission, such as Cassini, would carry an unacceptably high risk of mission failure due to particle collisions. However, the distributed nature of the proposed mission means it can accept a risk that could destroy many of femtosats in the constellation, making in-situ survey of the ring possible.