Plug-and-Play Satellite (PnPSat 1) was the first ever built spacecraft entirely on PnP principles. It was scheduled to be launched in 2009 but is now used for education. PnPSat 1 was built around SPA-S (SpaceWire) and featureddecentralized, scalable computation. The spacecraft was built by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directory at Kirtland Air Force Base.

This information is collected from a presentation by Dr. James Lyke, AFRL, "Bringing the Vision of Plug-and-play to High-Performance Computing on Orbit", at HPEC 2009.

Article table of contents:

• Introduction to PnPSat 1

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Introduction to PnPSat 1

PnPSat 1 has up to 48 mounting sites on the integrated harness panels, called Table Top SPA (TT-SPA) form factor and it uses the full Satellite Data Model (SDM).

Illustration of PnPSat 1. Image courtesy of AFRL.

PnPSat 1 shown in open configuration. By recessing electrical infrastructure and harnessing, significant increases in flexibility component and experiment mounting.

Illustration of PnPSat 1 in open configuration. Image courtesy of AFRL.

The Table Top Panels (TT-SPA) encapsulates electrical function and harness (complexity hiding).

Photograph of an open TT-SPA panel.

Photograph of an assembled TT-SPA panel. Image courtesy of AFRL.

Photograph of the PnPSat 1 spacecraft. Image courtesy of AFRL.