Skip to content

Early-Era & Miscellaneous SST Projects

Short-duration projects from SST's earliest years (2011–2014) that explored novel concepts. Most were feasibility studies or 1-year seed grants at Ames Research Center. None produced visible downstream impact, but they represent SST's original "try many things cheaply" philosophy.

Last updated: 2026-04-14 (session 22 — reviewed, no substantive changes; early-era projects are fully characterized)

Edison 1 Mission Candidates (4799)

  • Period: 2012-10 → 2014-09
  • Lead: ARC | PM: Bruce D. Yost
  • Concept study for "EtherSat" and "Planetary Hitch Hiker" mission candidates for the Edison-1 smallsat. Predates the modern SST program structure.
  • Yost went on to manage the SST program office at ARC.

Outcome: no-visible-outcome (study only) | Confidence: confirmed

Nanosatellite Payload Reentry and Recovery (4879)

  • TRL: 3→4 | Period: 2011-11 → 2012-02
  • Lead: ARC | PI: Antonio J. Ricco
  • States: CA, WA
  • Concept for returning a nanosatellite payload from orbit. Just 3 months duration.
  • Ricco is a well-known ARC researcher in bio/nano systems (GeneSat, PharmaSat heritage).

Outcome: no-visible-outcome | Confidence: confirmed

Small Vehicle Experimental Launch Testbed (10939)

  • TRL: 2→2 | Period: 2011-08 → 2014-12
  • Lead: ARC | PI: Unmeel B. Mehta
  • Engineering assessment of using an F-4 aircraft with water-injection pre-compressor cooling (WIPCC) to air-launch a small rocket at supersonic speed. Closed out 2014.
  • Unusual concept — using a retired military jet as a first stage. The idea of air-launch persisted (Virgin Orbit, Pegasus) but this specific F-4 concept did not advance.

Outcome: no-visible-outcome (study) | Confidence: confirmed

Pattern: ARC as SST Incubator

Ames Research Center leads 16 SST projects — the most of any organization. These early-era projects reveal ARC's role as the programmatic home of SST: - Edison 1, PhoneSat, EDSN, Nodes, V-R3x (swarm program) - Reentry recovery, launch testbed, alpha/betavoltaic (exploratory concepts) - Green propulsion, hybrid rocket, ICE thruster, iodine ion, MPS-120 (propulsion seed grants — many led by external company PIs) - PACE, Rapid Reaction (mission development infrastructure)

The early projects (2011–2014) were small seed grants ($200K–$500K each, 1 year). Many external PIs (Busek, MSNW, Aerojet) received ARC-administered grants. ARC served as the contracting and technical oversight center — the "incubator" through which SST distributed early-stage funding.