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Alternative Mission Concepts For The Exploration Of Outer Planets Using Small Satellite Swarms, Andrew Gene Blocher
Alternative Mission Concepts For The Exploration Of Outer Planets Using Small Satellite Swarms, Andrew Gene Blocher
Master's Theses
Interplanetary space exploration has thus far consisted of single, expensive spacecraft missions. Mission costs are particularly high on missions to the outer planets and while invaluable, finite budgets limit our ability to perform extensive and frequent investigations of the planets. Planetary systems such as Jupiter and Saturn provide extremely complex exploration environments with numerous targets of interest. Exploring these targets in addition to the main planet requires multiple fly-bys and long mission timelines. In LEO, CubeSats have changed the exploration paradigm, offering a fast and low cost alternative to traditional space vehicles. This new mission development philosophy has the potential …
Power Budgets For Cubesat Radios To Support Ground Communications And Inter-Satellite Links, Otilia Popescu
Power Budgets For Cubesat Radios To Support Ground Communications And Inter-Satellite Links, Otilia Popescu
Engineering Technology Faculty Publications
CubeSats are a class of pico-satellites that have emerged over the past decade as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional large satellites to provide space experimentation capabilities to universities and other types of small enterprises, which otherwise would be unable to carry them out due to cost constraints. An important consideration when planning CubeSat missions is the power budget required by the radio communication subsystem, which enables a CubeSat to exchange information with ground stations and/or other CubeSats in orbit. The power that a CubeSat can dedicate to the communication subsystem is limited by the hard constraints on the total …