METASAT: AN OPEN METADATA SCHEMA FOR CUBESAT MISSIONS

The variety of small satellite missions range from high school science programs [1] to support for interplanetary communication [2] and the ways people document their missions are as diverse as the missions themselves. MetaSat, an open metadata schema in development, will function as a common way of describing hardware, software, and data specifications across missions to improve interoperability between them. This new digital infrastructure will allow ground station networks to better support the plethora of missions to be launched in coming years, and help people share information about past missions with future generations.

Capturing the breadth of work being done with small satellites is impossible without input from the small satellite community. For this reason the MetaSat team is inviting the community to participate in conversations at conferences and online that will shape the schema design. The MetaSat team will also be refining their design by piloting an implementation of the schema on an open network of ground stations called SatNOGS [3] and installing ground stations at public libraries across the globe. Feedback from people in those library communities will supplement input from experts to help lower the barrier for entry to using the schema and SatNOGS tools for satellite operations.

This project has been made possible through funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and its success ultimately relies on the MetaSat team’s ability to develop a schema that meets the small satellite community’s needs.

[1] https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/cubesat/overview/

[2] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/marco.php

[3] https://satnogs.org/