Engineering Commons^™

The Critical Role Of Cubesat Spacecraft In A Multi-Tier Mission For Mars Exploration, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

A multi-tier architecture is under development (with similar craft heterogeneity to Fink's work on ‘tier scalable’ missions) which will facilitate autonomous local control of multiple heterogeneous craft. This mission architecture has been developed with a Mars mission in mind and has included CubeSats in a variety of critical mission roles.

Two concepts will be presented: the addition of CubeSats to a larger-scale multi-tier mission, where the CubeSats serve a supporting role and a mission driven by CubeSat orbital capabilities. In the first, CubeSats are utilized to augment the area of spatial coverage that can be obtained and the temporal coverage …

Improving And Expanding The Capabilities Of The Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, David Pignatelli

Master's Theses

The Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) has undergone a series of revisions over the years. The latest revision, described in this Master’s Thesis, incorporates new capabilities like EMI shielding, an inert gas purge system, and an electrical interface to the CubeSats after they are integrated into the P-POD. Additionally, some mass reduction modifications are made to the P-POD, while its overall strength is increased. The P-POD inert gas purge system successfully flew, on a previous revision P-POD. The P-POD components are analyzed to a set of dynamic loads for qualification, and successfully undergoes random vibration qualification testing. The P-POD encounters some …

Assessment Of Educational Expectations, Outcomes And Benefits From Small Satellite Program Participation, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This paper begins to characterize the educational outcomes that can be produced from student participation in a small spacecraft development program. We asked students what benefits they expected to receive from program participation and we asked them, at the end of the semester, what benefits they had received. We also characterized student performance through the use of post-participation Likert-like scale questions and the use of a widely-used questionnaire for assessing student research participation outcomes. We compare benefit expectation and attainment, characterize the level of benefits received across multiple types of participation and assess the effect of program participation on subject-specific …

A Two-Phase Development And Validation Plan For North Dakota's First Spacecraft, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) aims to make space more accessible for educational and other uses by driving down the cost of CubeSat development. This paper presents a tentative plan for the use of two orbital missions as part of a two-phase technology demonstration sequence focusing on raising the technology readiness level (TRL) of OPEN to a level suitable for wide use and adoption. It presents an overview of a two-mission development plan including mission objectives, requirements and constraints. The paper considers how the phase one mission’s spacecraft may serve as a lower-cost platform for some users in …

A Variety Of Configurations For Incorporating Actuation Components Into The Structural Members Of A Cubesat, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This paper describes the volume and mass challenges faced by designers utilizing the CubeSat form factor. It has considers the need to more effectively utilize the corner-spaces of the CubeSat, particularly when there is a need to incorporate narrow and long structures. It discusses several prospective approaches for incorporating long and narrow structures into a CubeSat and considers the prospective value of doing so.

Dual High-Voltage Power Supply For Use On Board A Cubesat, Nicholas Weiser

Master's Theses

Since their conception in 1999, CubeSats have come and gone a long way. The first few that went into space were more of a “proof of concept,” and were more focused on sending simple data and photographs back to Earth. Since then, vast improvements have been made by over 40 universities and private firms, and now CubeSats are beginning to look towards interplanetary travel. These small satellites could provide a cost effective means of exploring the galaxy, using off the shelf components and piggy-backing on other launch vehicles with more expensive payloads. However, CubeSats are traditionally launched into Low Earth …

Considering The Educational Benefits Of A Cubesat Program, Jeremy Straub, Samudra Haque, Christopher K. Dinelli

Jeremy Straub

This presentation will provide an overview of work performed at the University of North Dakota with regards to the characterization of educational benefits from small spacecraft development efforts. We report on efforts to characterize benefits that ensued from participation for personal extracurricular enrichment, as part of a formal class (on project management), as part of multiple senior design projects, for independent study credit and for satisfying class project requirements. This assessment has been performed using a standard questionnaire for student research participation as well as custom questionnaires related to program focus areas. We have also analyzed student course performance, where …

Development Of A Ground Station For The Openorbiter Spacecraft, Jacob Huhn, Alexander Lewis, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative[1] at the University of North Dakota is working to design and build a low cost[2] and open-hardware / opensource software CubeSat[3]. The Ground Station is the user interface for operators of the satellite. The ground station software must manage spacecraft communications, track its orbital location , manage task assignment, provide security and retrieve the data from the spacecraft. This will be presented via a graphical user interface that allows a user to easily perform these tasks.

Mechanical Design And Analysis Of A 1-U Cubesat, Ben Kading, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft De-velopment Initiative seeks to create a low-cost, easy-to-assemble CubeSat1 design that can be produced with a parts budget of under USD$5,0002. In [1], an initial design was presented; this design was enhanced in [3] and has been revised further. The current design, which has switched focus from defining specifications, requirements and constraints to identifying real parts which meet these previously defined constraints, is presented herein.

Update On The Operating Software For Openorbiter, Dayln Limesand, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The operating software team of the OpenOrbiter project has been tasked with developing software for general spacecraft maintenance, performing mission tasks and the monitoring of system critical aspects of the spacecraft. To do so, the team is developing an autonomous system that will be able to continuously check sensors for data, and schedule tasks that pertain to the current mission and general maintenance of the onboard systems. Development in support of these objectives is ongoing with work focusing on the completion of the development of a stable system. This poster presents an overview of current work on the project and …

Advancement Of The Software Defined Radio (Sdr) For The Open Orbiter Project, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Sima Noghanian, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are an exciting development in radio technology. The SDR uses software to perform many of the tasks that only hardware could previously complete on a traditional analog radio. Such tasks include encoding/decoding or applying filters to reduce noise on the signal. This powerful fusion of software and hardware have allowed SDR to be smaller in size and have a greater functionality than traditional radio setups; a perfect solution for our Open Orbiter satellite. Currently, the implementation we use consists of a simple $20 USB TV decoder for receiving, a Raspberry Pi micro-computer for transmission, and the …

An Overview Of The Hardware Designs Of The Openorbiter Program, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This poster provides an overview of the hardware designs for the OpenOrbiter small spacecraft, including both missions in our two-phase mission design. The first mission will use a limited-configuration, limited-scope CubeSat which will develop and demonstrate UND’s capability to develop and launch a small spacecraft. It will also serve to inform the second mission through problems detected with included components, so that these can be corrected before the more robust phase-two mission is launched. The phase-two mission will feature the complete Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) design and will house a visual-light camera which will serve to collect imagery …

An Overview Of Current Progress On The Openorbiter Project, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents an overview of the work that has occurred over the last year on the OpenOrbiter project. The new two-phase ‘experience-building’ mission strategy is presented and discussed and overviews of the hardware/software configurations applicable to each mission are presented. Highlights from recent work across all areas of the project are included. An overview of student involvement over the course of the last year is also presented. Also discussed are the future plans for the project and a look forward to the next year and what progress and deliverables are expected. The pathway to an orbital launch and the …

Openorbiter Operating System Components: Development Of Software For Communications And Power Management, Michael Hlas, Calvin Littlebina, Dayln Limesand, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents details on two areas of the development of the OpenOrbiter Operating Software, communications and power management. Communications are an essential part of any satellite. Communications allow us to send commands and receive information from the satellite. However communications presents us with some unique challenges. The satellite is orbiting the earth about every 90 minutes at very high speeds making it difficult to track it through the sky. We also have a very limited window when the satellite is overhead to communicate with it. Bandwidth is also very limited so what is sent and received during that time …

Educational Benefits To Participants In Small Spacecraft Development, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

A key focus of the OpenOrbiter project has been identifying possible sources of educational benefit to student participants and ascertaining whether they have been received. To this end, we’ve asked participants what benefits they hope to attain, determined whether they attained them and measured increases in skills and abilities over the period of participation in the project. This poster provides an overview of all of the educational evaluation work performed to-date with regards to the OpenOrbiter project. It considers both the benefit of the particular project as well as the benefits of small spacecraft development work, in general, across a …

Openorbiter Ground Station Software, Alexander Lewis, Jacob Huhn, Jeremy Straub, Travis Desell, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative[1] at the University of North Dakota is working to design and build a low cost[2] and open-hardware / opensource software CubeSat[3]. The Ground Station is the user interface for operators of the satellite. The ground station software must manage spacecraft communications, track its orbital location , manage task assignment, provide security and retrieve the data from the spacecraft. This will be presented via a graphical user interface that allows a user to easily perform these tasks.

The Use Of The Roofsat For Computer Science And Engineering Education, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents an overview of a tool that has been created to provide students with real-world experience in the design, development and operation of control and scientific mission software for a cyber-physical system. The ROOFSAT, developed at UND, is a low-cost analog for a small spacecraft (though in many ways these capabilities also enable similar UAV work). The ROOFSAT was constructed with approximately $1,500 generously provided by the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences out of commercially-available parts. It includes multiple cameras, a pan-tilt mount and the same space-qualified computer hardware which has been used on both spacecraft …

Software Group Of The Openorbiter Project, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This poster provides an update regarding software development work for the OpenOrbiter project. The software development effort for the OpenOrbiter project currently consists of four teams: payload software development, operating software development, ground station software development and testing. The teams are designing and developing the software needed to create and operate a small spacecraft which can be produced for under USD $5,000 by students, faculty and others around the world. Participating students are gaining valuable real-world experience through the process of designing and developing the spacecraft. Each team is headed by a team lead that is responsible for conducting weekly …

Openorbiter Operating Software, Dayln Limesand, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The operating software team of the OpenOrbiter project has been tasked with developing software for general spacecraft maintenance, performing mission tasks and the monitoring of system critical aspects of the spacecraft. To do so, the team is developing an autonomous system that will be able to continuously check sensors for data, and schedule tasks that pertain to the current mission and general maintenance of the onboard systems. Development in support of these objectives is ongoing with work focusing on the completion of the development of a stable system. This poster will present an overview of current work on the project …

Development Of Safety Standards For Cubesat Propulsion Systems, Liam Jon Cheney

Master's Theses

The CubeSat community has begun to develop and implement propulsion systems. This movement represents a new capability which may satisfy mission needs such as orbital and constellation maintenance, formation flight, de-orbit, and even interplanetary travel. With the freedom and capability granted by propulsion systems, CubeSat providers must accept new responsibilities in proportion to the potential hazards that propulsion systems may present.

The Cal Poly CubeSat program publishes and maintains the CubeSat Design Specification (CDS). They wish to help the CubeSat community to safety and responsibly expand its capabilities to include propulsive designs. For this reason, the author embarked on the …

Openorbiter Small Spacecraft Development Program Educational Benefits, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

No abstract provided.