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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Evaluation Of The Impact Of An Additive Manufacturing Enhanced Cubesat Architecture On The Cubesat Development Process, Rachel E. Sharples Sep 2016

Evaluation Of The Impact Of An Additive Manufacturing Enhanced Cubesat Architecture On The Cubesat Development Process, Rachel E. Sharples

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a fabrication method ideally suited to low-quantity, highly customized builds, leading to interest in its application to satellite development and manufacturing, where each build is unique. Due to the issues of long development schedules and high development and manufacturing costs, methods are needed in the CubeSat development process to reduce the weight and volume of subsystems and decrease integration time. The work develops an architecture for an AM-augmented CubeSat and examines the AM techniques of embedded electronics, embedded thrusters, and custom radiation-hardened materials can impact the subsystems of a CubeSat. The AM-augmented architecture shows a shift …


Military Applications Of High-Altitude Satellite Orbits In A Multi-Body Dynamical Environment Using Numerical Methods And Dynamical Systems Theory, Meredith M. Wilmer Mar 2016

Military Applications Of High-Altitude Satellite Orbits In A Multi-Body Dynamical Environment Using Numerical Methods And Dynamical Systems Theory, Meredith M. Wilmer

Theses and Dissertations

The circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) is a simplified dynamical model for a satellite under the gravitational influence of both the Earth and the Moon, maintaining closer fidelity to the gravitational environment experienced by a high-altitude Earth-orbiting spacecraft than modeling in the Earth-satellite two-body problem. Resonant orbit arcs are used to determine an initial guess to input into an algorithm that computes a trajectory solution with specific design requirements and constraints. A test case uses this method to compute a lunar fly-by transfer solution requiring less than two-body transfer methods and offers an unusual pathway that adds an unpredictability element …


Key Detection Rate Modeling And Analysis For Satellite-Based Quantum Key Distribution, Jonathan C. Denton Mar 2016

Key Detection Rate Modeling And Analysis For Satellite-Based Quantum Key Distribution, Jonathan C. Denton

Theses and Dissertations

A satellite QKD model was developed and validated, that allows a user to determine the optimum wavelength for use in a satellite-based QKD link considering the location of ground sites, selected orbit and hardware performance. This thesis explains how the model was developed, validated and presents results from a simulated year-long study of satellite-based quantum key distribution. It was found that diffractive losses and atmospheric losses define a fundamental trade space that drives both orbit and wavelength selection. The optimal orbit is one which generates the highest detection rates while providing equal pass elevation angles and durations to multiple ground …


Space Object Self-Tracker On-Board Orbit Determination Analysis, Stacie M. Flamos Mar 2016

Space Object Self-Tracker On-Board Orbit Determination Analysis, Stacie M. Flamos

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the United States' growing dependence on space based assets and the in- creasing number of resident space objects (RSO), improvement of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) capabilities is more necessary than ever. As a way to aid in this need, the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is developing the Space Object Self-Tracker (SOS) as a proof-of-concept experimental satellite for RSO precision tracking and collision avoidance system in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Specifically, SOS will use Global Positioning System (GPS) position estimates for on-board orbit de- termination. Currently, SOS will use the Simplified General Perturbations-4 (SGP4) algorithm as its …