Digital Commons Network^™

Microgravity Testing Of A Thermal Start Basket For Propellant Repositioning, Hugh Chen, Álvaro Romero-Calvo

Small Satellite Conference

CubeSat cold-gas propulsion increasingly relies on two-phase propellants stored in conformal tanks. However, state-of-the-art propellant management strategies for these systems result in significant portions of the tank being occupied by vapor, reducing the amount of storable propellant. They also require high power input for vapor expulsion, increasing mission complexity and limiting operational lifetime. These challenges highlight the need for a more robust propellant management approach. The VAporization for PrOpellant Repositioning (VAPOR) experiment investigates the feasibility of repositioning an ullage gas bubble of R-236fa using thermally-induced phase change in various propellant management devices (PMD). These devices utilize a heat source to …

Orbital Motion Coordination Using Bio-Inspired Optical Sensing And Feedback, Arif Billah, Imraab A. Faruque

Small Satellite Conference

Summary: Multi-satellite coordinated missions can improve upon larger solitary satellite missions through greater flexibility, efficiency, scalability and redundancy. This study considers a more diverse approach to in-orbit motion coordination that reduce dependence on communication links and absolute position references. The non-linear relative equations of motion applied to a chief satellite and a deputy target in the LEO orbit are considered and a feedback control system to facilitate multi-satellite relative motion coordination is designed. The feedback controller relies on on-board optical sensor measuring optic flow signal, similar to the bio-inspired feedback-controlled systems used for various aerial operations. Performance in orbit is …

End-To-End Lifecycle Testing With A High-Altitude Balloon, Benjamin Skinner, Patrick Walton, Alex Laraway, David Long

Small Satellite Conference

Many small satellite mission failures could be prevented with further end-to-end testing in relevant environments. No test fully matches the spaceflight environment, but partial tests can still be valuable. We developed a high-altitude balloon system for testing our CubeSat radars.

Night Sky Brightness Caused By Orbital Reflectors, Erkin Sidick, Ben Nowack, Tristan Semmelhack

Small Satellite Conference

We are in the process of developing a system which redirects the incoming sunlight to a stationary ground target after sunset and before sunrise. One of the purposes is to extend operating hours of solar-farms to after sunset and before sunrise. Our system contributes to light pollution as a by-product. We have developed an optical model to predict the night sky glow caused by the light coming from an orbital reflector. In this paper we will review some work done by others on the night sky brightness caused by artificial city lights first, then present our results of model predictions …

Closed-Loop Satellite Planning And Scheduling For Low-Latency Data Collection And Analysis With A Conversational Agent Interface, Neil Dhingra, Sean Kearns, Nathan Evans, Ella Herz, Armin Rezaiyan-Nojani

Small Satellite Conference

We demonstrate a closed-loop geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TCPED) pipeline that provides data and data analyses using commercial satellite imagery. The Cloudbased Automated Satellite Tactical TCPED (CASTT) software platform obtains data through automated interfaces with satellite operators, performs analyses of that data which drive automated re-tasking by Auria’s optimized collection planning software, and then issues those new follow-up tasks to the satellite operators. Automation shortens the timeline from the receipt of data that warrants follow-up data to its actual collection and delivery. CASTT leverages progress across the space industry to providing an integrated solution drawing …

Revolutionizing Space Thermal Control: The Breakthroughs And Applications Of Pulsating Heat Pipes, Matt Schultz, Jimmy Hughes, Mckenzie Sandberg

Small Satellite Conference

The development of Pulsating Heat Pipes (PHP) offers significant advancements in thermal control technologies. This poster reviews the fundamental mechanisms of PHPs, manufacturing processes, and focuses on how PHPs fit into the current thermal architecture for satellite, payload, and instrument thermal control to identify the best use cases and application of the emerging technology.

Three-Dimensional Radiation Patterns Of Cubesats And Link Budget Without Attitude Control, Daisuke Nakayama, Kei Sano, Rin Sato, Yusuke Iwaki, Shunya Hayashi, Arisa Oho, Sayanju Sirash

Small Satellite Conference

As CubeSat missions demand higher data rates, directional patch antennas have increasingly replaced traditional monopole or dipole antennas, and ensuring omnidirectional coverage—especially under tumbling conditions—has become critical. To address this, we developed a three-dimensional radiation pattern measurement system that enables the evaluation of antenna characteristics across all possible CubeSat attitudes. To apply these measurements to practical operations, we introduce the Coverage Ratio of CubeSat Attitude (CRCA), which intuitively represents the percentage of satellite orientations that exceed a given required gain. In this study, we apply this methodology to the S-band downlink antenna system of VERTECS, a 6U CubeSat developed by …

Novel Pressure-Based Electric Propulsion Discovery, Wesley Faler, Brad Berkson

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents a novel electric propulsion system that uses pulsed plasma and ion- electron recombination to generate thrust primarily from internal pressure, using water vapor as propellant. In-space testing of the Poseidon^™ thruster demonstrated 37.49 mN average thrust and over 4,800 seconds specific impulse at under 1.5 W input power. A physics-based model captures the full mass, energy, and momentum balances and matches experimental results, supporting pressure as the dominant thrust mechanism. Experimental detection of proton–boron fusion in the exhaust plume further validates the system's plasma behavior and confirms a key element of its operating cycle.

Near Real-Time Optimal Trajectory Design For Active Debris Removal With Verification And Validation Using Kompsat-1, Shawn Choi, Taeyeon Choe, Peter Ryu, Hyeongjun Park, Douglas Deok-Soo Kim

Small Satellite Conference

Geospace is getting busier with an increasing amount of debris, and their removal of such debris is becoming important for the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of geospace. The need for safe and sustainable removal has drawn significant attention to Active Debris Removal (ADR). When a chaser performs a fly-around maneuver to approach a target, it should solve the following optimization problem (OPT): (i) Minimize collision risk against other flying space objects, (ii) minimize fuel consumption, and (iii) maximize mission accomplishment. However, solving OPT is known to be very challenging, as it is at least NP-hard. This is because the trajectories …

Vision-Based Dynamic Tasking For Earth-Observing Satellite Constellations, Shreeyam Kacker, Kerri Cahoy, Kiruthika Devaraj, Işıl Demir, Steve Chien

Small Satellite Conference

Unpredictable phenomena such as cloud coverage pose a challenge for conventional Earth observation. Long lead times can cause conditions to change between forecasting, scheduling, and image capture, leading to suboptimal observations. To combat this, dynamic tasking has been proposed as a mission concept, where perception and autonomy are moved onboard the spacecraft in order to quickly respond to changes in the spacecraft’s imaging schedule, leveraging the compute power available in modern Earth-observing spacecraft. In this work, we explore the use of a wide field-of-view body-fixed lookahead sensor, separate from the main imaging payload, to evaluate the real-time utility of upcoming …

Performance Quantification Of Diverse Controller Structures In A Non-Cooperative Multi-Agent Orbital Environment, Patrick Williams, Ryan Karow, Jacob Witthuhn, Cannon Kilcrease, Kyle King, Joshua Varon, Imraan Faruque

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented during the 2025 SmallSat Conference.

An Open-Source, Hybrid Communication System Twin And Tool For Cubesat Applications, Julian B. Birk, Spyridon Daskalakis, Haijun Fan, George Goussetis

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents a digital replica of a satellite communication system. To correctly depict end-to-end connectivity, a rudimentary flight software package around an imaging payload is built using NASA JPL’s F Prime framework. For radio communication, a custom implementation of the AX.25 protocol is built in Python and implemented into a GNU Radio block. In GNU Radio, an appropriate signal processing chain for up and downlink is set up. The resulting flow graph can be used fully digitally, for simulation or be connected to software defined radios for true, over-the-air communication. The Python implementation performs sufficiently well for a low …

Cots Implementation Of Magnetorquer-Only Cubesat Spin Stabilization, Joshua Umansky-Castro, Deemo Chen, Om Deshmukh, Haonan Gong, Nicholas Natsoulas, Mason Peck, Andrew Filo, Alex Burke

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents the implementation of CubeSat attitude control algorithms on commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware. Cornell’s Alpha CubeSat seeks to spin-stabilize using only magnetorquer outputs and IMU inputs. Extensive software development and testing is carried out to overcome these hardware limitations. This paper shares tools, techniques, and niche considerations when bringing the control algorithm from simulation to hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing with embedded flight software. In-depth approaches for magnetometer filtering are discussed, along with software implementation decisions for safe mission operations.

Detumbling Analysis And Attitude Stabilization Of Spicesat: A Closed-Loop Control Verification Framework, Spencer Talish, Francesca Fusco

Small Satellite Conference

This study investigates the detumbling capabilities of SPICEsat following an initial angular disturbance imparted by the deployer. SPICEsat, which stands for Sloshing Platform for In Orbit Controller Experimentation, is a 6U CubeSat developed by Rutgers University to investigate the effects of fuel sloshing on spacecraft stability and control. Top level, this research’s objective is to confirm SPICEsat's ability to reduce angular momentum, thereby achieving a stabilized post-deployment attitude. This is referred to as detumbling, or the process of reducing a satellite’s rotational rates following deployment. The system-level focus centers on assessing the control authority of the Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) …

Developing A Model-Based Systems Engineering Methodology For Academic Cubesat Missions, Piper L. Kline

Small Satellite Conference

Cube Satellites (CubeSats) have become increasingly popular, particularly in academic settings, due to their affordability, rapid development timelines, and utility as platforms for student training and experimental payloads. Despite these advantages, CubeSat development presents several challenges, including limited resources such as personnel, funding, and time, as well as difficulties in maintaining comprehensive documentation and managing requirements. Student-led projects face additional obstacles, such as inexperienced team members and high turnover rates, which can result in inadequate passing of knowledge. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) has emerged as a promising approach to address these challenges and improve the efficiency of CubeSat design and …

Prototyping A Sparse-Aperture, Segmented, Parabolic Primary Mirror Telescope For Supersharp, Zoe O. Horvath

Small Satellite Conference

The SUPERSHARP mission concept for large, unfolding, lightweight, sparse-aperture space telescopes is inspired by the ongoing search for life in the universe [1]. The SuperSharp company is developing small-satellite versions of this concept for use in thermal infrared for Earth observation with applications in climate change research [2]. The motivation of my research is to help advance the alignment techniques and procedures of this technology for future applications in space observation at shorter wavelengths; this will be accomplished through the development and alignment of a laboratory prototype of a sparse-aperture, parabolic primary mirror telescope (see Figure 1) using the alignment …

Satellite Navigation With Earth Islands For Scope-1, S. Anand Agrawal, Brandon A. Jones

Small Satellite Conference

Spacecraft optical navigation can deliver autonomous navigation onboard when Earth-based tracking is saturated, obstructed, or impractical. Optical navigation relies on the correspondences between detected and known or mapped features in imagery to extract position and/or velocity, and data-driven methods, which directly leverage collected data to learn, can improve detection performance. This paper presents an initial data-driven Earth-based detection system using islands as landmarks for the SpaceCraft for Optical- based Position Estimation-1 (SCOPE-1) 3U CubeSat, which will be paired on board with a physics-based estimation framework. The system consists of an island detector trained on Earth observation imagery of islands, an …

The University Of South Carolina's Journey To The Launchpad, Patrick Bailey, Wout De Backer

Small Satellite Conference

A student team at the University of South Carolina is currently working to address the state’s needs for astronautics to both students and to the economy through collaborative efforts with other state institutions. This paper intends to cover the mission concept formulation, areas of beneficial technology development in space, and mission objectives that are to be accomplished for both human and technical capabilities within the state throughout the mission duration. The mission concept covers using 3D printing in space for on-orbit manufacturing capabilities, and the need for development of a computer vision algorithm and system for small space debris detection. …

Optimal Distributed Energy Resource Control And Scheduling In A Microgrid Framework, Timothy M. Dodge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As we use more renewable energy, such as solar power, and add new devices, such as electric vehicle chargers and battery storage, to our buildings, the management of electricity becomes more complex. These local energy sources and devices can form small "microgrids" that need careful coordination to work efficiently with the main power grid. The system figures out the best times to use, store or charge different devices (such as batteries and EVs) to avoid costly, high electricity demand spikes and help stabilize the main power grid, especially when asked by the utility company. A major part of this work …

Factors Influencing Cognitive Load: Exploring Affective Elements, Motivational Constructs, And Regulatory Strategies In Learning, Rebecca B. Brockbank

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

There are three separate research papers within this dissertation, each looking at specific elements of learning. The process of learning is a complex phenomenon that includes not just cognitive aspects, but also emotional and motivational aspects. During learning there is an input of information into our cognitive system (i.e., minds). When too much information is given or the information is not presented effectively, this can overload our cognitive system and negatively impact our learning. Understanding how to learn within the parameters of our cognitive system is important. However, learning is more complex than just the simple input and output of …

Twisted Equivariant Matrix Factorizations, Jan-Luca Spellmann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

We introduce and study categories of twisted equivariant matrix factorizations MF^α_G(R, w), which are categories of matrix factorizations of a potential w over the local ring R = C[x₁, . . . , x_n] together with an action by a finite group G that is twisted via a 2-cocycle α. These categories provide rich examples of Z/2Z-differentially graded categories in the context of non-commutative geometry and come up naturally in the study of boundary conditions of 3d Rozansky–Witten theories. We prove that under certain assumptions on (R, w …

Quantifying The Sensitivity Of Land Use Land Cover Metrics Through Simulation Techniques, Haley Burger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As human activities and climate change continue to reshape our landscape, understanding how land use changes over time is becoming increasingly important. Accurate ways to track and analyze these changes are essential for governments, businesses, and communities to make informed decisions. Monitoring agricultural land is particularly critical, as shifts in land use can impact food production and environmental pollutants. One of the primary tools used in the United States to monitor agricultural land is the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), an annual map created by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from satellite images. While the CDL is highly accurate, …

Unveiling Insights From Complexity: Advanced Computational Techniques For High-Dimensional Medical Data, Devin P. Eddington

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Healthcare generates vast amounts of data daily, from genetic profiles to hospital records, but much of it remains untapped due to its complexity. This dissertation develops new computational tools to unlock this data’s potential, aiming to improve patient care and medical research. Five projects tackle different challenges: Project 1 creates Deep MAGIC, a method to fill in missing genetic and image data accurately, vital for understanding diseases like cancer. Project 2 analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted surgeries, finding a 27% drop and temporary complication rises in 2020, guiding future crisis planning. Projects 3 and 4 study kidney disease trials, …

Risk Perceptions And Water Governance: Experiences Of Irrigation Companies In The Great Salt Lake Basin Of Northern Utah, United States, Bailey M. Holdaway

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Irrigation companies are important water management entities in the Western US. However, these companies often face barriers when managing water. Particularly as the state of Utah grows and water resources are drying, there is much finger pointing at those in irrigation and agriculture for better water management. However, pointing fingers without the participation of these companies often does not lead to effective water management outcomes. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of these irrigation companies, and particularly how they are approaching water management.

I set out to understand the role of these irrigation companies, specifically in the Great …

Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems In Southeastern Utah: An Integrated Analysis Of Hydrology, Ecology, And Landscape Change, Colten Lay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In Southeastern Utah, springs play a critical role in sustaining groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) in a semi-arid environment. However, they remain understudied and face growing threats from climate change, land use modifications, and hydrologic alterations. This study addresses knowledge gaps in spring occurrence, hydrologic function, and ecological condition by integrating field surveys, remote sensing, and geospatial analysis across multiple spatial scales. It provides a comprehensive assessment of spring hydrology, water quality, and ecological conditions using field surveys, remote sensing, and GIS analysis to establish a foundational baseline of GDE resources in the region. I applied a multi-scale monitoring approach across the …

Selected Projects In Scenic Design And Technical Direction, Ky Trupp

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

A selection of projects in scenic design and technical direction produced by Utah State Theater involving Ky Trupp and others. Each chapter studies the design process and production process of three individual shows where Ky was the Scenic Designer or Technical Director.

A Study Of Complex Analysis After Whittaker And Watson, Crystal Steed

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The goal of this report is to provide solutions to the exercises found in chapter five of the book titled, A Course of Modern Analysis: An Introduction to the General Theory of Infinite Processes and of Analytic Functions with an Account of the Principal Transcendental Functions by E.T. Whittaker and G.N. Watson. The fifth chapter is titled, "The Fundamental Properties of Analytic Functions; Taylor's, Laurent's and Liouville's Theorems." This report solves the end-of-chapter exercises in addition to providing details for some in-chapter exercises, which are left to the reader. Many of these exercises are results from famous mathematicians.

Dream Pilot Project: Analysis Of Groundwater Development At Six Villages In Ethiopia, Lindsay K. Gordon

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This study presents a hydrogeologic assessment of the Distributed Renewable Energy Agriculture Modalities (DREAM) pilot project, an ongoing groundwater development initiative in rural Ethiopia. This project integrates solar-powered groundwater infrastructure across six villages to improve water access, agricultural productivity, and economic stability.

Fourteen production wells were installed at Murche, four at Dalle, and additional test wells at Murche, Dalle, Chefe Kora, and Huluku. Transmissivity values and the number of wells at Murche suggest that local water needs are currently being met. In contrast, fewer wells were drilled at Dalle. This reflects the high cost of well construction relative to yield, …

Linearized Rigid-Body Dynamics Of Asymmetric Aircraft, Troy A. Abraham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Most aircraft are symmetric about their mid-plane, which permits simplifying assumptions when modeling their aerodynamic and mass properties, as well as estimating their dynamic modes. This work considers methods for modeling asymmetric aircraft, including capturing the dynamic mode characteristics that result from their asymmetric properties. While the primary focus of this work is on the dynamic mode properties of these aircraft, a significant portion of the dissertation is dedicated to modeling their aerodynamic, mass, and trimmed flight characteristics. The linearized rigid-body aircraft equations of motion used for dynamic mode estimates are developed to include the effects of asymmetries in both …

Exploring Methods For Quantifying Uncertainty In Neural Network-Based Turbulence Closures, Cody Grogan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Machine Learning (ML) is a very promising field for data-driven modeling of different phenomena. In the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), ML is an enticing alternative to traditional methods to improve the accuracy and computational efficiency of simulations. However, many ML models, like Neural Networks, don’t quantify their uncertainty or indicate their confidence in a prediction to those who wish to use them. This is especially important because the use of inaccurate ML predictions in a CFD simulation can greatly impact the validity of a simulation. However, with uncertainty quantification, an ML model can indicate to a modeler the …