The DATA-CHASER Hitchhiker Project as a Demonstration of Distributed Operations for Small Satellites

DATA-CHASER consists of two synergetic projects, DATA and CHASER, which will fly as a Hitchhiker payload aboard the Space Shuttle in 1997. A technology experiment, DATA (Distribution and Automation Technology Advancement) seeks to advance human support technology. CHASER (Colorado Hitchhiker and Student Experiment of Solar Radiation) is a solar science experiment that serves to test DATA. The DATA technologies support cooperative operations distributed between different geographic sites as well as between humans and machines. Though demonstrated with a small Shuttle payload, such technologies apply equally well to small satellites.