Digital Commons Network^™

Advancing Real-Time Gnss Data Transmission And Education Through Atak Integration At Cosmiac, Chad Rathbun, Craig Kief, Luis Hernandez, Rachel Hock-Mysliwiec, Michael Starks

Small Satellite Conference

This study showcases COSMIAC at the University of New Mexico (UNM), a leading center for configurable space microsystems and aerospace applications, as it integrates cutting-edge technologies to advance secure and efficient communication systems. Under the AFRL RAPID program, COSMIAC tested a novel architecture combining Azure Orbital Cloud Access (AOCA), the Azure Stack Edge Mini Rugged device, and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation to transmit real-time Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data. The project also leveraged the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), a geospatial situational awareness tool, to demonstrate the operational utility of advanced data delivery and visualization systems. The results inform …

Magnetic Balancing For Microvibration Reduction In Passive Magnetic Bearings For Smallsat Reaction Wheels, Deckers Niel, Baekeland Mante, Cuypers Cedric, Seiler Rene, Vandepitte Dirk, Delabie Tjorven

Small Satellite Conference

Poster presented during the 2025 SmallSat Conference.

Modernizing Smallsat Mission Operations: Integrating Ai-Driven Optimization With Cloud-Native Control Systems, David Besson, Dax Garner

Small Satellite Conference

As the space industry experiences unprecedented growth in SmallSat constellation deployments, traditional mission control approaches face significant scalability and efficiency challenges. This paper presents a novel framework that integrates three cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize satellite mission operations: Cognitive Space’s CNTIENT.Optimize AI-powered decision engine, Yamcs open-source mission control software, and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Mission Operations Center (CMOC) solution. As a representative simulation benchmark, the paper demonstrates the framework’s capabilities through mission simulations of the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) SmallSat constellation. The integration leverages CNTIENT.Optimize’s advanced AI algorithms to automate complex scheduling decisions across proliferating homogenous or …

Climate - Commercial And Scientific Instrument Opportunities For Small Satellite Constellations, Alex Da Silva Curiel, Rob Elliott, Tony Canas, Stephanie Mottershead, Andy Palfreyman, Martin Sweeting Sir

Small Satellite Conference

There is an economic and social impact in many areas in the world due to lack of information on local climate, and better understanding is widely believed to lead to cost savings and improved living standards. Despite the wealth of spacecraft data available today, many climate variables are still poorly monitored. Small satellites in constellation can help in filling data gaps, and also provides the important temporal resolution required. Such missions could be highly complementary to the NASA NEO and EU Copernicus programs, and their data can be commercially valuable, opening up the potential for novel business models and services. …

Outer Planet Exploration By Novel And Small Spacecraft: Jaxa’S Opens Program Concept And Its First Mission Opens-0, Ryu Funase, Naoya Ozaki, Hajime Yano, Isas/Jaxa Opens Working Group

Small Satellite Conference

The OPENS (Outer Planet Exploration by Novel Small spacecraft) program, proposed by JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), aims to revolutionize outer planet exploration through the use of small, low-cost spacecraft. Unlike traditional flagship-class missions, OPENS promotes high-frequency, high-risk, high-return missions that can be achieved even by countries with limited resources. The program’s first mission, OPENS-0, targets the demonstration of key technologies necessary for future small outer planet explorers, including solar-powered spacecraft operations and long-term hibernation capability. The spacecraft will be launched by JAXA’s Epsilon S rocket and perform gravity assists en route to Saturn, with the earliest …

Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment-3: The Third Hypersonic Flight Of The Krups Capsules, Bruno Tacchi, Eric T. Adams, Alexander R. Barrera, Asa C. O'Neal, Aaron Cramer, James E. Lumpp, Savio J. Poovathingal, Alexandre Martin

Small Satellite Conference

The Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System (KRUPS) is a small flight capsule with dimensions of 11 by 8.5 inches and a sphere-cone geometry. KRUPS aims to serve as a cost-effective testbed for hypersonic atmospheric entry experiments, collecting thermal response and flight data during re-entry and testing novel thermal protection systems (TPS). The forebody of the capsule is fitted with an instrumented TPS containing thermocouples and pressure ports. Furthermore, the instrumentation suite contains a high-g accelerometer, a GPS, an IMU, and a spectrometer.

The KRUPS project started in 2013. Since then, the capsule has flown five sounding rocket missions, a high-altitude …

Astra – Autonomous Satellite Technology For Resilient Applications: A Technology Demonstrator, Lauren Underwood, Fernando Figueroa, Zachary Lewton, Landon Tynes, Travis Martin, Jonathan Morris, Quentin Oswald, John Curry

Small Satellite Conference

ASTRA is an on-orbit technology demonstrator establishing a new paradigm for implementing on-board “thinking.” ASTRA is a system-level autonomy capability (including digital twins, anomaly detection, diagnostics/prognostics, and mission management) enabled by an innovative technology, NPAS - NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems. NPAS is developed by NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) with support from NASA Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) Advanced Exploration Systems and Mars Campaign Office. ASTRA leverages NPAS for on-board “thinking” autonomy. ASTRA also includes advanced hardware required for implementing autonomy. ASTRA Flight Software (FS) is running on commercial hardware that provides the computational …

Machine Learning For Interference Detection And Mitigation On Space Telecom Software-Defined Radio Signals, Adhémar De Senneville, Dennis Ogbe, Zaid Towfic

Small Satellite Conference

Detecting anomalies and interference is an essential capability of contemporary flight radios and ground support equipment. The advent of software-defined radios (SDRs) has made this task feasible. These radios allow real-time monitoring and potential mitigation of interference by adjusting frequency bands. This feature is useful as spacecraft components degrade and interference from other instruments may disrupt communications. The implementation of automated anomaly detection systems on SDRs can enhance both spacecraft and ground station testing by identifying abnormal waveforms and potential interference in communication channels. First, this work investigates how machine learning compares against classical signal processing approaches for the anomaly …

Development Of A Cubesat-Sized Hybrid Chemical Propulsion System For In-Orbit Demonstration, Sheila Langa, Ryosuke Kawabata, Izumi Chimoto, Yasuhiro Fukumoto, Taejun Son, Gonzalo Campos, Shota Hirai, Landon Kamps

Small Satellite Conference

Letara Ltd. is a company based in Hokkaido, Japan, specializing in in-space hybrid chemical propulsion systems. Letara has been actively researching CubeSat-sized hybrid chemical thrusters with a focus on fuel optimization and improved scalability for small satellite applications.

The first project is based on a 2U-sized thruster with the aim to demonstrate a safe, sustainable, and scalable miniaturized hybrid propulsion system in orbit. The technology demonstration is scheduled for 2026.

Advanced Hyperspectral Imaging From Orbit: Achievements And Challenges From The First Year Of Tanager-1, Jeff Guido, Mark Keremedjiev, James Mason, Riley Duren, Judy Lai-Norling, Kirk Seaman, Robert Green

Small Satellite Conference

In August 2024, Planet Labs PBC launched Tanager-1, a small satellite class hyperspectral satellite designed to detect methane point source emissions, developed through the Carbon Mapper partnership. In a short time, Tanager-1 began imaging and demonstrating the exceptional sensitivity of the onboard VSWIR imaging spectrometer designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The early performance of Tanager-1 signals a significant advancement in remote sensing capability made possible by an innovative public-private partnership bringing together commercial, non-profit, philanthropic, academic, and government entities.

Leveraging JPL-developed technology and Planet’s proven expertise in spacecraft development and operation, Tanager-1 acquires high-fidelity hyperspectral data across the 400-2500 …

Development Of A Compact Optical Communications Terminal For The Pulse-A Cubesat, Sofia Mansilla, Seth Knights, Natalie Orrantia, Maya Mcdaniel, Daniel Lee, Oliver Shoemaker, Aidan Etterer, Aishani Mohan, Chris Wong, Juan Ignacio Prieto Asbun, Robert Pitu, Logan Hanssler, Annie Shuford, Eliana Schiller, Kira Chin, Graydon Schulze-Kalt, Danielle Zumi Riekse, Mira Singh, Alexandra Yao, Vicky Bardon Soto, Natalie Sauer, Vidya Suri, Tian Zhong

Small Satellite Conference

The Polarization-modUlated Laser Satellite Experiment (PULSE-A) at the University of Chicago aims to demonstrate the feasibility of circular polarization shift keyed (CPolSK) satellite-to-ground laser communication links. The project aims to advance high-speed optical satellite-to-ground communications as an alternative to the traditionally used radio frequencies. PULSE-A thus requires the development of a compact, low-loss optical communications terminal capable of emitting collimated and high-power circularly polarized light modulated at high frequencies. Here we present a design for an optical communications terminal capable of achieving output powers of up to 230 mW at modulation frequencies from 1 to 10 MHz with a maximum …

Community Organizations, Immigrants, And Air Pollution Risks In Utah, Nowrin Fatema, Kirsten Vinyeta, Erin Hofmann

Publications

Over the past 25 years, Utah’s Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region along the Western flanks of the Wasatch Mountain Range that includes Salt Lake City, has emerged as a new international immigrant gateway (1). While in Utah, immigrants may find economic opportunity and safety relative to their home countries, they may also experience notable life-altering disparities, including disproportionate exposure to the region’s worsening air pollution. As some of the first and few institutions interacting with newly arrived immigrants and refugees, non-governmental community organizations are well positioned to serve as information hubs regarding regional air pollution risk. Yet our research, in …

Living Pantry: Affordable Housing And Traditional Agriculture, Alanna S. Nafziger

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Utah is a beautiful and unique landscape with a vibrant food history that is, as I write this in 2025, undergoing some dramatic changes in both climate and population.

The population is projected to almost double by 2065, increasing by 2.8 million people over a 50-year period. Cache Valley, in the Northern part of the state, is projected to increase its population by 93% in that same time frame (Perlich et. al., 2017).

This population growth represents a huge increase in demand for housing, but while demand grows, the market becomes less affordable, with the median home price 6.26 times …

Challenging The Gaze: A Feminist Interpretation Of The S.M.S. Mail Art Collection, Karissa A. Krievins

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the late 1960s, many people called for radical, immediate change to America’s political, societal, and cultural structures. The artistic practices of the time reflected the social and political realities of the moment and played a crucial role in advocating for change. The title of the 1968 S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop) subscription art portfolios was a bold and urgent call for action, challenging artists and audiences alike to confront the pressing injustices of the era and inspire a collective awakening to the necessity of transformative change across the United States. Despite a fifty-six-year gap, today we are …

Validation Of Head Above And Head Submerged Hydrostatic Weighing Equations And Air Displacement Plethysmography, Axel M. Miller

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Traditional hydrostatic weighing (HW) involves full body submersion at residual volume (RV), which may be uncomfortable. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate a more comfortable way to perform this method. HW with the head above water (HW_HAW) was compared to the traditional method of HW with head below water (HW_HBW) and to another method that also measures density by displacement, air displacement plethysmography (ADP). Equivalence was tested by comparing the body fat percentage (BF%), body volume (Vb), and body density (Db) of 27 subjects (15 M, 12 F) between the three methods. Results …

The Soldier Saint: Latter-Day Saint Veterans Of The Vietnam War, Cassie Evans

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This digital exhibit and accompanying paper explore the experiences and contributions of Latter-day Saint veterans during the Vietnam War, focusing on their role within both military and religious contexts. Despite representing only a small percentage of the American military forces in Vietnam, Latter-day Saints influenced the war's cultural and spiritual landscape. Through personal narratives, interviews, and historical analysis, the study sheds light on how these veterans navigated the complexities of their faith amidst the challenges of combat.

Additionally, it considers the relationship between military service and missionary efforts, highlighting how the presence of Latter-day Saint soldiers contributed to later religious …

Unwritten Rules: Black Utahns’ Experience With De Facto Segregation In Utah, 1940-1965, Jasmine Mercedes Lowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis examines life in Utah during the Jim Crow era, utilizing oral history interviews with African Americans who lived in the state between 1940 and 1965. The interviewees selected for this project describe their personal experiences with housing, employment, public spaces, medical assistance, and education discrimination.

Distal Impact Of Learning Trajectories On Motivational Factors In Second Language Acquisition Of Adult English Learners, Feng Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Learning a foreign language is a long-term process sustained by learners’ motivation, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. While prior research has established that past performance influences these motivational factors, overlooking the impact of past performance on current motivational constructs. This dissertation explores how past learning performance impact current motivational factors. Using a person-centered approach, three subgroups were identified as latent learning profiles within the sample population based on their performance features: the high-performing early peak profile, the stable profile, and the rising profile. Regression models were conducted to evaluate the extent to which latent learning profiles predicted motivational variables. The results showed …

Wild Water: Hydrosocial Dislocation, Dispossession, And The Symbolic Geographies Of The American West, Leonard Alexander Henderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation investigates how the confluence of community change and water politics in the American West shapes a discussion about a Wild and Scenic designation for the Crystal River on Colorado’s Western Slope. Ideas about the “Wild West,” influence how many people think about wilderness and small mountain towns, driving growing populations, housing prices, and, as a result, social inequality in many of these areas. At the same time, many people on Colorado’s Western Slope feel that region’s water is taken away by both the state’s more populous Front Range or more politically and economically powerful states like California. Climate …

An Embodied Social Demography For Trans And Nonbinary Workers, Jesse Ezra Shircliff

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Recently, the separation of “sex” and “gender” has seen intense debate in public discourse, stemming from skepticism about the social sciences and the measurement and study of gender specifically. Meanwhile, the United States population is becoming more gender diverse, with roughly 1 in 200 people now identifying as trans gender or gender nonbinary (that is, as a gender that is different from that person’s sex assigned-at-birth or outside of the sex-gender binary). This growing population experiences numerous disadvantages across social life, including obstacles in one particularly important aspect of the American Dream: the right to have and hold a job. …

Evaluating Maternal Polar Bear Denning Habitat Along The Arctic Coastal Plain And Assessing The Potential For Noise Disturbance In Polar Bear Dens, Ethan Ducharme

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Polar bears (Ursus Maritimus) in northern Alaska are increasingly choosing land instead of sea ice to build their maternity dens. As sea ice continues to decline due to climate change, this shift makes it more important than ever to identify and protect the areas where polar bears dig dens to give birth and raise their cubs. In the first part of my research, I used new satellite-based elevation data to map potential polar bear denning habitat across a large section of Alaska’s Arctic Coastal Plain. This technology allowed me to identify the types of sloped terrain where drifting …

Veils Of Oppression: An Exploration Of Paul Fitzsimmons Eve And His Impact On Enslaved Black Women's Lives, Zoe'swanna K. Mcgee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis contributes to the ongoing study of gender, race, and medicine in the United States, focusing on Dr. Paul Fitzsimmons Eve and his practices. By examining the experiences of enslaved black women subjected to his surgical procedures and experiments, medical racism, harm, and exploitation become visible.

The Effect Of Voter Education On Behaviors In Ranked Choice Voting, Ethan G. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The appeal of ranked choice voting has led to its recent meteoric rise throughout America, leading to adoption in a number of cities and a handful of states, but some critics and political scientists worry about its higher difficulty potentially leading to more errors and undesirable behavior. Utilizing an experiment, I find that a short voter education video is all that is required to reduce rates of errors and ideologically inconsistent behavior, while finding null results for undervoting, possibly due to its low occurrence in the sample.

As ranked choice voting’s adoption is considered in each election cycle for jurisdictions …

Womanhood, Survival, And The American Revolution: The Correspondence Between John And Abigail Adams And Henry And Lucy Knox, Kristin Jaques

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The letters of Lucy and Henry Knox and Abigail and John Adams sent between 1775 and 1782 show how women stepped out of their expected gendered roles with thoughts of survival, not because they wanted to challenge the patriarchal society prevalent in the American colonies during the American Revolution.

Balancing Native Wetland Types And Ecosystem Function Conservation In The Face Of An Aggressive Plant Invader, Aubin A. Douglas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wetlands provide a multitude of ecosystem services that are important to people including water filtration, flood attenuation, carbon sequestration, and recreational opportunities such as birding and hunting. Wetland plants support these services by performing important underlying ecological processes called ecosystem functions which include removing heavy metals from water and providing habitat for migratory birds. The provisioning of these functions varies through space and time, by vegetation type, and via impacts from other factors like climate and management actions. Wetland managers are responsible for maintaining these functions and services within their management complexes to align with their agency’s mandates. Unfortunately, managers …

Alevi-Bektashi Ballads: Malady, Melody And Remedy, Mustafa Cingoz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This research focuses on how ballads play a central role in the cultural and spiritual life of the Alevi-Bektashi community in Türkiye. These ballads, performed by folk poets known as aşık (minstrel) with the stringed instrument bağlama are the inseparable elements of their daily life and sacred rituals. As rooted in the path of Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam, and the teachings of 13th-century Sufi saint Haji Bektash Veli, Alevi-Bektashi ballads express shared emotions, struggles, and hopes. Therefore, my point of view argues that these ballads do more than preserve the Anatolian ballad tradition. They create a sense of …

Migration As Adaptation: Place-Based Vulnerability Near The Drying Great Salt Lake, Dallin Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The drying of the Great Salt Lake presents a complex and evolving threat to Utah residents, with wide-ranging environmental, economic, and health implications. This study explores the individual and structural factors impacting Utahns' ability to utilize migration as a form of adaptive capacity in response to these threats, using mobility justice and cumulative advantage and disadvantage theory as guiding frameworks. Drawing on survey data, a multilevel logistic regression model identifies key structural factors, including age, income, and gender, that influence perceived migration ability. Additionally, a 2x2 typology categorizes distinct profiles of vulnerability to the Great Salt Lake based on different …

Operation: Twisted Arm, Paul Burdiss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This science fiction novella explores the postcolonial tensions that can exist between a settler population and the native population of the land they have colonized. It uses the science fiction genre to translate modern issues into a fully fictionalized setting and is written in novella form to best fit the form of the story. This novella is accompanied by a Critical Introduction which explains the methodology and rationale for many of the choices made in its construction, and references both literary works read in preparation for this project as well as works by other writers regarding fiction writing techniques. The …

Understanding Power Dynamics Of Latter-Day Saint Marriages In The United States Of America, Bonnie Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Power sharing is a key feature of romantic relationships. It is important to understand how various groups navigate power sharing within their relationships. Thirty-one participants who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (16 women and 15 men) reported on their experience of power-sharing in marriage. In-depth individual and couple interviews revealed that couples engage in four individual and relational processes that impact and promote equality in marriage: systemic influences, self-in-relationship processes, relationship processes, and identity outcomes. These processes have important implications for future research and therapeutic practice with Latter-day Saint, religious, and secular couples.

Investigating Temporally Dynamic Models Of Choice In Rats And Bumblebees, Jack Van Allsburg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Temporally dynamic models of choice simulate how animals use past experience to make optimal decisions in variable environments. Chapter 1 briefly reviews a series of such modeling approaches and their mathematical properties. Extension of these models to longer experiments (more than 48 hours) designed to produce spontaneous recovery of choice (a behavioral phenomenon implicated in relapse) previously led to results not described well by current models. Chapter 2 comprises an empirical investigation of different explanations for these inconsistent results using rats, evaluating the effect of different test delays on preference following varied reward conditions. The results of the first two …