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Confronting Or Linking Csp And Ccsds? A View On How To Operate Small Satellites Today, Pierre-Alexis Lagadrillière, Tobias Brügge, Kay Müller

Small Satellite Conference

CubeL was launched early 2021 and is the first COTS cubesat which the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) of DLR is operating. It carries 3 of the most typical space-to-ground communication systems with its UHF transceiver, its S-band transceiver and its laser terminal. Main aim is to demonstrate the capabilities of the miniaturized laser terminal for high speed communications up to 100Mbps. The second aim of this cubesat is to test operations between the on-board S-band transceiver with its native CSP and GSOC’s multi-mission environment based on CCSDS and ECSS protocols and standards, e.g. the CCSDS space packet protocols.

In …

Towards Comprehensive Ai-Based Onboard Fdir: System Design And First Results, Luca Manca, Gianluca Campagna, Riccardo Maderna, Gabriele Giordana

Small Satellite Conference

Health monitoring of spacecrafts is a crucial task in Space operations. Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) plays a critical role in ensuring the safety and successful operation of a spacecraft by detecting and isolating faults, and then executing recovery actions. Currently, the FDIR process is carried out mostly on ground, with only anomaly detection typically performed onboard the spacecraft using out-of-limit (OOL) threshold techniques, whereas fault isolation and recovery is managed by operators on the ground.

This approach has two major limitations. Firstly, OOL approach is not capable of identifying subtle anomalies that occur within the parameters’ nominal operational …

Toward Autonomous Guidance And Control: A Robust Ai-Based Solution For Low-Thrust Orbit Transfers, Matteo Stoisa, Luca Romanelli, Federica Paganelli Azza, Pietro De Marchi, Mattia Varile

Small Satellite Conference

The focus of our initial application scenario centers around a low-thrust orbit transfer in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). This specific use-case has been chosen due to its inherent challenges, including the requirements for robustness and real-time computation.

We propose an AI-based solution capable of autonomous and robust on-board G&C. The core of our approach leverages a Deep Neural Network (DNN) trained through Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques. Our method aims at enhancing a traditional guidance approach by managing environmental perturbations, it processes the on-board navigation coordinates and provides the thrust to be imposed by the propulsion subsystem.

Our approach demonstrates effectiveness in …

Moon Orbiter "Izumi" For Lunar Water Exploration, Kentaro Taniguchi, Miwa Tsurumi, Ryusei Komatsu

Small Satellite Conference

NASA's Artemis program focuses on the water resources on the Moon. As lunar exploration probes with high spatial resolutions can identify potential drilling points on the lunar surface, this study proposes a mission that focuses on neutrons generated by galatic cosmic rays that leak into space and contain information regarding the amount of water within the lunar subsurface. Neutron detectors used in previous lunar exploration mission probes have encountered challenges in achieving both high spatial resolution and statistical reliability. To overcome these challenges, the proposed mission satellite is equipped with the world's first imager proposed for thermal neutrons. The satellite …

Lost: An Open-Source Suite Of Star Tracking Software, Mark Polyakov, Edward Zhang, Karen Haining

Small Satellite Conference

We present LOST: Open-source Star Tracker (LOST), a suite of star tracking software particularly suitable for small satellite missions with limited computing resources and low-cost cameras. LOST contains implementations of a number of previously-proposed star tracking algorithms and a flexible framework for running and evaluating these algorithms. Our evaluation finds that LOST's algorithms are simultaneously able to maintain a strong combination of accuracy, runtime, and memory usage. In scenarios representative of a low-cost star tracker, LOST correctly identifies over 95% of images, and importantly, performs the entire star tracking pipeline in less than 35 milliseconds on a Raspberry Pi while …

Development Of Tactical And Strategic Operations Software For Nasa's Lunar Flashlight Mission, Mason Starr

Small Satellite Conference

Lunar Flashlight (LF) is an interplanetary CubeSat mission designed to demonstrate the use of a novel green monopropellant propulsion system and characterize lunar surface ice with a near-infrared laser array and reflectometer. LF is also the first Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) mission to be operated entirely by students. While JPL provided baseline tools to Georgia Tech (GT), bespoke tools and software were developed by GT operators. Four tools developed by the author are discussed in this paper: (1) Downlink Helper is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool which improves the tactical downlink of recorded spacecraft telemetry. The tool automatically creates …

Cost-Effective Payload Operations Planning Software For Complex Small Spacecraft Mission Operations, Willard Farmer

Small Satellite Conference

As small spacecraft become more capable, so does the complexity of their operations. Searching for potential concurrent observation or access opportunities and ensuring they are compatible with one another may become tedious and repetitive for operators to manually compute. Currently available commercial-off-the-shelf tools that automate this process are capable but expensive. To address this problem, a new payload operations planning tool has been developed by the Space Flight Laboratory to handle the deterministic aspects of mission planning, such as: detecting observation opportunities, validating observations in a schedule, and generating lists of commands to be sent to satellites. This lightweight tool …

Star Tracker Algorithm Improvements To Restore Performance After Radiation Exposure, Abigail Lee

Small Satellite Conference

Rocket Lab's ST16-RT2 star tracker uses a CMOS detector to image stars in the sensor's field of view, software to isolate the stars in the image from the background, and an on-board catalogue to identify the stars in the image and, thus, determine the attitude of the satellite. High temperatures and radiation effects raise the black level and standard deviation of the noise on the sensor. This results in a loss of dynamic range and complicates the pixel classification between star candidates and the background. Pixels improperly designated as part of a star are referred to as false positives, and …

Evaluating Rotation-Equivariant Deep Learning Models For On-Orbit Cloud Segmentation, Alex Meredith

Small Satellite Conference

Cloud detection in satellite imagery is key for autonomously taking and downlinking cloud-free images of a target region as well as studying cloud-climate interactions and calibrating microwave radiometers. We propose a C₈-equivariant dense U-Net, a rotation-equivariant deep learning model, trained on visible-spectrum, long-wave infrared (LWIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) imagery for on-orbit cloud detection. We train this model on the SPARCS¹ dataset of Landsat 8 images and compare it to three related deep learning models, two rule-based algorithms, and to the literature. Additionally, we compare a C₈-equivariant dense U-Net trained on VIS, LWIR, and SWIR …

Optimization Of Propulsion Systems With Real-Time Precise Orbit Determination Technology To Enable Proximity Operations And Advanced Mission Capabilities, Sakari Teerikoski, Javier Tegedor, James Bartle, John Lawrence, Frank Tobin

Small Satellite Conference

Precise orbit determination technologies are an increasingly important enabler for the validation of critical in-space satellite propulsion systems. Advanced maneuvers require precise knowledge of impulse to optimize operations related to rendezvous, docking, in-orbit refueling, debris removal, formation flying and optical intersatellite-links optimization. These applications can benefit greatly from enhanced knowledge of the precise position of the satellite performing the work, and the precise position of the target. Thruster-intensive missions benefit from this ability to optimize thruster use and calculate and optimize actual fuel use.

The authors have combined these technologies to offer a precision 6DOF cold-gas propulsion solution with simultaneous, …

Distributed Spacecraft Mission (Dsm) Plume Design Reference Mission (Drm) Inter-Satellite Link Modeling, Analysis, And Simulation, Yen Wong, Robert Morgenstern, Jose Velazco

Small Satellite Conference

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Radical Innovation Initiative (R12) plans to focus intently on DSM capability advancements in FY22-24. A DSM mission involves multiple spacecraft, arranged in a constellation, to achieve one or more common goals via the use of inter-satellite links (ISL) between the satellites. Recently, the GSFC Internal Research & Development (IRAD) program established Enceladus as a design reference mission (DRM) for the current DSM effort to foster the conceptual development of communication architecture, requirements, and solutions for future DSM ISL, as well as being able to push other research areas of interest. Enceladus is an icy …

Clear Shores: Enhancing Water Quality Monitoring, Benjamin Taylor, Guglielmo Aglietti, Moritz Lehmann

Small Satellite Conference

Mission goal: "Improve monitoring of the quality of water in and around Aotearoa New Zealand for researchers, decision makers and the public at large through innovative space technology"

Design To Delivery Of Additively Manufactured Propulsion Systems For The Swarm-Ex Mission, Kevin Tong, Samuel Hart, Mackenzie Glaser, Samuel Wood, Mark Hartigan, E. Glenn Lightsey

Small Satellite Conference

Recent progress in miniaturized spacecraft propulsion technology has allowed for the development of complex, multi-vehicle missions which enable the cost-effective realization of science goals that would previously have been prohibitively expensive. The upcoming NSF-funded Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale EXperiment (SWARM-EX) mission leverages these swarm techniques to demonstrate novel autonomous formation flying capabilities while characterizing the spatial and temporal variability of ion-neutral interactions in the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly and Equatorial Thermospheric Anomaly. SWARM-EX will fly a trio of 3U CubeSats in a variety of relative orbits with along-track separations ranging from 3 km to 1300 km.

To achieve the required …

Aquarius: The World's First Water-Based Thruster Enabled 6u Cubesat To Complete Lunar Flyby, Aoma Fujimori, Hokuto Sekine, Yasuho Ataka, Isamu Moriai, Mariko Akiyama, Masaya Murohara, Hiroyuki Koizumi, Ryu Funase

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents the outcomes of the initial operations and on-orbit performance of AQUARIUS (AQUA ResIstojet propulsion System), a micro-propulsion system. AQUARIUS utilizes water as a propellant and is designed for trajectory control and reaction wheel desaturation of a 6U CubeSat, EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft). The spacecraft was launched in November 2022 by SLS, following which the initial operations commenced. Both the spacecraft and the propulsion system were confirmed to be in good health during the checkout process. Performance evaluation of the propulsion system confirmed that it met the requirement to execute the first delta-V maneuver scheduled 38 …

Lessons Learned During The Implementation Of A Cold Gas Propulsion System For The Sunrise Mission, Ryan Martineau, Tyson Smith, Matt Felt, Cameron Weston, Blake Rusch, Robert Fowler, Emma Brown, Adam Farmer, Tim Neilsen, Craig Thompson, Alex Kirkman, Paul Fluckiger, Shawn Morrison, Dave Wittner, Frank Picha, Jeffrey Weiss, Nathan Daniel, Samuel Wood, Mackenzie Glaser

Small Satellite Conference

The SunRISE mission utilizes a two-phase cold gas propulsion system, which provides several advantages over other cold gas systems but experienced challenges during assembly and testing. Since 2020, Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC), Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (FPL) have implemented several improvements to the SunRISE propulsion system.

The SunRISE propulsion system leverages an additively manufactured monolithic structure, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) valves and transducers, and the benign working fluid R-236fa to provide a suitable propulsion system for the SunRise mission. While the GTRC propulsion system had been developed for other missions, the multi-organizational …

The Journey Of The Lunar Flashlight Propulsion System From Launch Through End Of Mission, Celeste Smith, Nathan Cheek, Christopher Burnside, John Baker, Philippe Adell, Frank Picha, Matthew Kowalkowski, Glenn Lightsey

Small Satellite Conference

The Lunar Flashlight Propulsion System (LFPS) was developed as a technology demonstration to enable the Lunar Flashlight spacecraft to reach Lunar orbit and to desaturate onboard reaction wheels. While the system produced over 16 m/s of delta-v and successfully managed momentum, variable thrust performance, most likely due to debris in the propellant flow path, kept the spacecraft from reaching the Moon. This paper details the in-flight journey of the LFPS, highlighting both successes and challenges met throughout the mission, and provides lessons learned applicable to future CubeSat missions and additively manufactured propulsion systems.

Extended Life Qualification Of The Magnetically Shielded Miniature (Masmi) Hall Thruster, Vernon H. Chaplin, Jacob B. Simmonds, Matthew P. Byrne, Dan M. Goebel, Alejandro Lopez Ortega, Robert B. Lobbia, Ioannis G. Mikellides, Richard R. Hofer, Brian X. Zhu, John M. Ratliff, Ryan W. Conversano

Small Satellite Conference

We present an update on the life qualification of the Magnetically Shielded Miniature (MaSMi) Hall thruster (also known as the ASTRAEUS Thruster Element), which was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was recently licensed to ExoTerra Resource for flight production (renamed Halo12). In 2020-2021, the thruster successfully completed a 7205-hour wear test at operating powers from 200-1350 W, processing over 100 kg of xenon propellant and producing 1.55 MN-s total impulse with no measurable degradation in performance. The wear test is being extended to further demonstrate the service life capability of the thruster. In separate tests, prot-flight MaSMi hollow …

Initial Results For Science Instruments Onboard Equuleus During The Cruising Phase Toward The Earth Moon Lagrange Point, Ryota Fuse, Kazuo Yoshioka, Masaki Kuwabara, Hajime Yano, Takayuki Hirai, Shinsuke Abe, Masahisa Yanagisawa, Ryu Funase

Small Satellite Conference

EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) is a spacecraft to explore the cis-lunar region including the Earth-Moon Lagrange point L2 (EML2). The spacecraft is being jointly developed by JAXA, the University of Tokyo, and several other universities in Japan. After being launched into a lunar transfer orbit by NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) Artemis-1 on November 16, 2022, the spacecraft successfully performed a first Delta-V and a trajectory correction maneuver. This enabled a precise lunar flyby and successful insertion into the orbit toward EML2.

Although the size of EQUULEUS is only 6U CubeSat, the spacecraft carries three different science instruments. …

Afrl Recurve Mission Success, Loss, Diagnosis, And Lessons Learned, Tyler De Caussin, Kate Yoshino, Lee Jasper, Franklin Hinckley, Brandon Shirley

Small Satellite Conference

Small satellites are making leaps in capability and are more often successful than even 5 years ago. However, there are many practices and approaches that are fairly new and deserve consideration for their efficacy. AFRL’s Small Satellite Portfolio (SSP) has been researching both first-of-their-kind technology demonstrations and the practices/approaches for their implementation. This paper discusses those practices and their results on the recent flight mission Recurve.

The Portfolio, somewhat uniquely, has the ability to execute flight demonstrations starting from concept and ending in operations, literally under one roof. Recurve was comprised of in-house developed and vendor supplied subsystems; in-house flight …

Small Satellite Payload Calibration, Deron Scott, Cole Miller, Eli Salay, Shane Canfield, Scott Hansen, Matt Berghout, Jan Kunzler, Duane Miles

Small Satellite Conference

This project focused on developing an efficient and cost-effective method for calibrating optical payloads that streamlines setup, measurement, and analysis time while staying within a SmallSat budget. To develop and test the concept, the team identified key calibration parameters and performed a demonstration on a surrogate payload using spatial, spectral, and radiometric calibration methods. Calibration results were derived from the demonstration and are detailed below.

Unlocking Onboard Sar Processing: Focusing And Ship Detection On Sentinel-1 Iw Data, Gianluca Campagna, Luca Manca, Armando La Rocca, Federico Fontana, Francesco Tosetti

Small Satellite Conference

This work demonstrates the possibility of enabling onboard processing of SAR data in real-time through the adoption of an innovative focusing technology coupled with object detection, using limited computational resources. Our approach aims to provide a coarse focused product onboard to unlock real-time monitoring capabilities, complementing the ground-based detailed focusing algorithms.

The focusing algorithm transforms the Level-0 raw signal into Level-1 Single-Look-Complex (SLC) data. It consists of a two-layers hybrid architecture: a traditional Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm for range processing and a Deep Neural Network (DNN), trained to solved the azimuth processing task, which provides scalability and modularity benefits. After …

A Reusable Framework For Fault Detection And Isolation In Small Satellites, Jubilee Prasad Rao, John Pace, Jesse Williams, Ryan Mackey, Liang He, Carlo Menegazzo

Small Satellite Conference

Nearly half of all small satellites launched between 2000 and 2016 have experienced partial or complete failures. Detecting the anomalies and faults responsible for such failures and responding to them rapidly may help increase the success rates of future small satellite missions. However, developing and implementing platform-specific and comprehensive fault management solutions can be cost-prohibitive to most small satellite teams. To enable such teams to achieve this capability quickly and cost-efficiently, we have developed a reusable and fully data-driven framework and associated algorithms to detect and isolate anomalous behaviors. This work is supported by NASA and utilizes correlations between system …

Imaging Spectrometer Implementation On A Small Satellite Platform For Aquatic Ecosystems Science, Corrie Smeaton, Ronald Lockwood, Michael Chrisp, Charles Bachmann, Laura Kennedy, Steve Gillmer, Linda Fuhrman, Derrick Brouhard, Jade Wang

Small Satellite Conference

The implementation of Imaging spectrometers with state-of-the-art performance on small satellites is challenging due to the size, weight, and power (SWaP) limitations. We have recently developed a compact form, the Chrisp Compact VNIR/SWIR Imaging Spectrometer (CCVIS), that facilitates their usage without sacrificing performance. The CCVIS enables a modular implementation that, combined with a freeform telescope, produces a wide field of view with high signal to noise ratio (SNR) performance. The targeted scientific application is the study of aquatic ecosystems. The imaging spectrometer is designed to address carbon sequestration in coastal margins and wetlands, kelp and seagrass studies, coral reefs, harmful …

Scouts Missions: Esa New Program For Science Mission Based On Small Satellite, Massimiliano Pastena, Jean-Pascal Lejault, Dominique Gilliéron

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents the main characteristics of the new Scout framework in ESA's Earth Observation directorate aimed to exploit and support the New Space initiative in Europe in the frame of Earth science missions. In particular, details will be provided to explain the subtle balance between the commercial new space aspects and the science traditional aspects of the Scout framework. An overview of the 4 missions selected during the first consolidation round will be given as well as the one under development highlighting for each one the innovations, applications as well as the challenges and the achievements of the development …

Prototype Testing Results Of Charged Particle Detectors And Critical Subsystems For The Esra Mission To Gto, Carlos A. Maldonado, Jonathan Deming, Brooke N. Mosley, Justin Mcglown, Anthony Nelson, Philip A. Fernandes, Anthony J. Rogers, Douglas Patrick, Martin Kroupa, Michael Caffrey, Susan Mendel, Kerry Boyd, August Gula, Kim Katko, Markus P. Hehlen, Daniel Arnold, Jonathan Barney, Ted Schultz, Daniel B. Reisenfeld, Ruth Skoug, Angus Guider, Michael Holloway, Heidi Morning, John T. Steinberg, Erik Krause, Andrew Kirby, Darrel Beckman, Justin Tripp, Keith S. Morgan, Zachary Miller, Robert Merl, Paul S. Graham, Joshua Ortner, Quinten Cole, Chuck Clanton, Brian A. Larsen, Tom Fairbanks, Jeffrey George, Rory Scobie, Kasidit Subsomboon, Kristina Mckeown, Katherine Alano, John Michel, Darren Harvey, Andrew Harvilla, Donathan Ortega

Small Satellite Conference

The Experiment for Space Radiation Analysis (ESRA) is the latest of a series of Demonstration and Validation (DemVal) missions built by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, with the focus on testing a new generation of plasma and energetic paritcle sensors along with critical subsystems. The primary motivation for the ESRA payloads is to minimize size, weight, power, and cost while still providing necessary mission data. These new instruments will be demonstrated by ESRA through ground-based testing and on-orbit operations to increase their technology readiness level such that they can support the evolution of technology and mission objectives. This project will …

Compact Midwave Infrared System (Cmis) For Feature Tracking, Michael Kelly, Warren Chen, James L. Carr

Small Satellite Conference

The Compact Midwave Infrared System (CMIS) is a multi-angle, multi-spectral radiometer designed for high-spatial resolution stereo imaging in the shortwave infrared (SWIR)/midwave infrared (MWIR). The unique design of CMIS enables the capability to track diverse targets ranging from hot wildfires to cold clouds. CMIS is a low-size, -weight and -power (SWaP) instrument that can be accommodated on a small-satellite constellation to enable a rapid revisit rate needed for characterizing dynamic scenes. CMIS employs mature stereographic techniques to retrieve object heights and motion vectors that are free of the ambiguities between height assignment and along-track motions that are apparent in some …

The Pandora Smallsat: Mission Overview, Jordan Karburn, Pete Supsinskas, Hilary Johnson, Maricris Schneider, Elisa Quintana, Jessie Dotson, Knicole Colon, Tom Barclay, Christina Hedges, Jessie Dotson

Small Satellite Conference

The NASA Pioneers Program is tasked with performing compelling astrophysics science at lower cost, with smaller hardware, compared to Explorers Program missions. The Pandora SmallSat was selected as an inaugural Pioneers mission. Pandora uses an aluminum, 45-cm, dual channel Cassegrain telescope as its scientific instrument. The instrument will obtain the first dataset of simultaneous, multiband, long-baseline observations of exoplanets and their host stars. The goal is to use these data to reliably characterize planetary atmospheres by disentagling star and planet signals in transmission spectra.

Early in project formulation, the Pandora team developed a suite of high-fidelity parametrized simulation and modeling …

An Overview Of Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy At Nasa Ames, Caleb Adams, Brian Kempa, Michael Iatauro, Jeremy Frank, Walter Vaughan

Small Satellite Conference

Autonomous decision-making significantly increases mission effectiveness by mitigating the effects of communication constraints, like latency and bandwidth, and mission complexity on multi-spacecraft operations. To advance the state of the art in autonomous Distributed Space Systems (DSS), the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) team at NASA's Ames Research Center is developing within five relevant technical areas: distributed resource and task management, reactive operations, system modeling and simulation, human-swarm interaction, and ad hoc network communications. DSA is maturing these technologies - critical for future large autonomous DSS - from concept to launch via simulation studies and orbital deployments. A 100-node heterogenous Processor-in-the-Loop (PiL) …

Formosat-7/Cosmic-2: Impacts On Global Operational Forecasting And Future Architectures With A Smallsat Constellation, William Gullotta, John Braun, Jan-Peter Weiss

Small Satellite Conference

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) is a mission partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) and the US Space Force (USSF). The mission consists of a constellation of six smallsats with a primary Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) payload, which provides observations of the Earth's neutral atmosphere and ionosphere. These observations are delivered in real-time to operational weather and space weather prediction centers across the globe. Since launching in 2019, observations from COSMIC-2 have been making a significant impact on global numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. …

A Multi-Faceted Approach To Enabling Large-Scale Science In A Microsat Constellation, Ronnie Killough, Craig Deforest, Daniel B. Seaton, Keith Smith, J. Marcus Hughes, Chris Lowder, Ritesh Patel, Matthew J. West

Small Satellite Conference

The Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission is a constellation of microsatellites that combines advances in several areas of technology enabling the use of simple imaging instrumentation to measure, to-date, inaccessible aspects of the outer corona and solar wind. The primary PUNCH measurement is brightness and polarization state of light scattered by electrons entrained in solar wind features. This measurement is made possible in the context of a small explorer budget by leveraging a combination of three key elements: (a) a constellation of four small satellites conducting synchronized observations, (b) availability of low-cost off-the-shelf components, and (c) …