FabricSat considers a novel distributed implementation of critical and common satellite bus functions using a set of planar tiles, which could exist in a sheet-like (fabric) form. The tiles can be considered as "cells" (such as those in biological organisms), each having a number of subsystems (energy, communication, computation, sensory). While each tile can be thought of as a degenerate spacecraft, they would likely be used in ensembles to implement the essential infrastructure necessary for all spacecraft (additional payloads could be added). Cells are designed to cooperate and pool resources to the degree practical. The tiles possess both local and global order, as in the case of multicellular organisms, where functions occur inside of individual cells, but the collection is viewed as a distinct overall system. This paper considers the cellular interpretation of spacecraft systems, the FabricSat embodiment, and describes a near-term cubesat to demonstrate some of the key principles.
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