TABLE OF CONTENTS

term partnering incentive industry can plan for. Modeling and simulation will also be a
critical need, particularly early on. Strong leadership and investment in a coordinated
M&S effort will pay dividends down the road through better understanding of how to use
these technologies in applications of interest to the AF.
Mid-Term (2014 – 2020)—Emphasize application-oriented efforts, leading the
demonstration of femtosat subsystem performance in key areas such as image formation
from ultra-small nano-enabled cameras at low light levels, fully testing flight software
packages, and integrating nano-enabled attitude control and propulsion systems.
Constellation management and cooperative multi-vehicle SSA operations should be
demonstrated on orbit using larger, mature nanosatellite platforms such as the CubeSat
satellite bus. By 2020 the USAF should have integrated all femtosat subsystems and
flown test articles to demonstrate functionality while establishing opportunities for early
operational assessments. In parallel, the USAF should leverage advances in
nanotechnology-based supercomputing and artificial intelligence with an eye toward
fielding highly efficient ground control architectures.
Far-Term (2020 – 2025)—Drive toward an AF-led on-orbit demonstration of a
distributed femtosat constellation. Important milestones will include simulating
autonomous investigation of an uncooperative space object and sharing the information
with other portions of the constellation, cueing other space-based and ground-based SSA
assets, sending out test alerts to satellites with self-defense capabilities, and relay of data
in near real time. The culmination of this stage of development will be a series of
incremental operational assessment activities leading to a technology readiness level
(TRL) designation of 7 rather than the TRL 6 traditionally identified for transition to an