In ecology, there was once an idea — now largely retro — that species might be described as r- or Ok-selected, relying on how they deal with their offspring. An elephant that has one calf each few years and devotes immense assets to them is adopting a Ok-selection technique — a lot as NASA historically has to its flagship probes, like Cassini. A sea turtle who leaves a whole bunch of eggs in a clutch on the seashore and leaves with out saying “good luck”, content material within the information that considered one of them will in all probability make it to maturity is participating in an r-selected technique, and it’s this technique that [Dr. Michael Rubenstein] is proposing for a next-generation mission to Saturn as a part of NASA’s Revolutionary Superior Ideas Program for 2026. Entitled “Actively Steerable Femtosat Constellations for In-situ Exploration of Saturn’s Rings, Atmosphere, and Magnetosphere” 
The idea is fairly easy: the rings are a horrifying mess of mud, particles, and ice bits of all sizes that symbolize virtually sure dying for a spacecraft. By launching 10,000 femtosatellites, these odds of virtually sure dying develop into an virtually certainty that a number of will make it by with treasured information. Within the immortal phrases of Lord Farquhar, “A few of it’s possible you’ll die, however that may be a sacrifice I’m keen to make.” With Cassini, NASA would by no means think about such a sacrifice. With itty-bity femtosatellites, it begins to make sense. We’ve been saying for years that the future of space is tiny, however these sacrificial probes would make even fashionable cubesats and picosatellites look massive.
Because of [Richard HT] for the tip! His tip was to a podcast that includes [Dr. Rubenstein] with [Fraser Cain], which we’ve embedded under. It has much more particulars than NASA’s official blurb web page.
