“NASA希望能与多家公司联手开拓太空新业务”， NASA Ames中心主管S. Pete Worden在近期发表的一份声明中表示。“M2mi所拥有的先进技术与我们的目标完全吻合同时又可增强由NASA所研发的技术的商业用途。”

M2mi将依照与NASA签署的共同调查和研发计划开展工作，据NASA称这是其第三类签署类似协议。双方将共同开发出重量在11磅到110 磅之间(大约5-50公斤之间)的小型卫星，NASA将在以后发射多颗类似卫星到地球低轨道，形成一个卫星星座。

“由这些小型卫星所形成一个卫星星座将构建成一个用于提供通信、数据存储和卫星观测图片的强大的、以太空为基础的全球高速网络 ，”M2mi CEO Geoff Brown在一份声明中表示。“此次所研发的小型卫星充分利用了微电子领域的最新技术，可低成本进行大规模生产。

这一基于IP服务的通信和网络系统被定位为支持网络电话、视频、数据、无线传输的第5代通信系统(5G)。

NASA将组织纳米传感器、无线网络、 小型卫星技术方面的专家与M2mi合作，而M2mi公司则提供软件技术、传感器、全球系统感知、自适应控制和商业化等方面的支持。

NASA太空通信和航空处副行政官Badri Younes在一分声明中表示，“此次合作将使得未来移动通信系统发生重大变革。”
BTW:3G还没有感受到呢，5G就来了，我们与科技隔阂太大了。

原文
NASA plans ‘nano’ satellites to help commercialize space

NASA Ames Research Center plans to work with M2mi Corp. to develop small satellites to power telecommunications and networks in space. The plan to build “nanosats” will help with the commercialization of space, NASA said.

“NASA wants to work with companies to develop a new economy in space,” NASA Ames Center director S. Pete Worden said in a news announcement Thursday. “M2mi has great technology that fits excellently with our goals, while enhancing the commercial use of NASA-developed technologies.”

The company will work under a cooperative research and development plan, which NASA said is the third such agreement in its history. It will build satellites that weigh between 11 and 110 pounds and create a constellation in low Earth orbit.

“The constellation will provide a robust, global, space-based, high-speed network for communication, data storage, and Earth observations,” M2mi CEO Geoff Brown said in a statement. “Nanosatellites take advantage of the significant technological advances in microelectronics and will be produced using low-cost, mass-production techniques.”

The telecommunications and networking system for IP-based services is being developed as a fifth-generation system that allows voice over IP, video, data, and wireless transmissions.

NASA will lend its expertise in nanosensors, wireless networks, and nanosatellite technologies, while M2mi will apply its abilities in software technology, sensors, global system awareness, adaptive control, and commercialization.

“This initiative shows great promise in revolutionizing mobile communications critical in meeting future needs,” Badri Younes, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation, said in a statement.
转自电子工程专辑