Expendable Nanosats Concept for Uranus Exploration

The Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission has been prioritized in the decadal survey as the flagship mission in the next decade. One key measurement is to measure the magnetic field and plasma in the magnetosphere which would benefit from having simultaneous measurements from multiple locations. We propose the concept of using expendable Nanosats equipped with passive optical wireless communication with modulating retroreflectors and ultra-low power stepped-quantum-well modulators. These Nanosats are dispatched in divergent directions from the Orbiter and data is remotely read out by the laser from the Orbiter up to 10,000km. This paper will present our analysis of the communication link budget in this mission context, battery and thermal requirements to enable significant Nanosat's lifetime, and the size, weight, and power for the instrument payloads. We also presented a table-top experimental platform and preliminary optical link test.