Digital Commons Network^™

Error-Resilient Compression: Using Deep Learning And Polar Coding To Improve Satellite Communication, Aiden Hammond, Jordanne Brisby, Deepak Mishra

Small Satellite Conference

MEMESat-1 is a flying transceiver for the amateur radio community with a packet data rate of 9600 baud (Lassiter et al). This severely limits the amount of data that can be transmitted on each pass by aground observer, hence, compression must occur. Due to the general similarity of the expected payload data (such as Figure 2), w e hypothesize that compression via deep learning is the best approach.

Uhf Ground Station For Satellite Communications: The Design, Build, Test, And Lessons Learned, Anargyros Kriezis, Regan Mah, Linda Hu, Celvi Lisy, Zayn Patel, Utsav Gupta, Bernard Adjei-Frimpong, Whitney Lohmeyer

Small Satellite Conference

The Olin Satellite + Spectrum Technology and Policy (OSSTP) Group was founded at Olin College of Engineering to explore real-world, project-based learning with apprenticeship-styled educational experiences in satellite communications. In 2019, OSSTP was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Cubesat Ideas Lab Grant for the Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) mission in collaboration with five other institutions (CU Boulder, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Western Michigan, and University of Southern Alabama) to develop and launch three CubeSats. This mission aims to serve as a pathfinder demonstration of swarm operations at separation distances of 1-1000 km using differential drag and onboard …

Small Sat Stack A New Era Of Open Source Missions, Jeffery John, Zachary Manchester

Small Satellite Conference

With the advent of open source small satellite software, as well as space-grade Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts, the barrier to entry for new and educational missions has been greatly reduced.

Case studies are now available on space programs currently utilizing some, or solely open source components, with documented challenges and opportunities.

Of particular interest is NASA’s open source flight software, F Prime, well suited for small satellites and systems. By analyzing and spotlighting trends in mission development, features can be preemptively developed by the community at large, and promote greater collaboration among spacefaring institutions.

A free, open web platform to …

Testing Aromatic Thermosetting Copolyester Debonding Characteristics In Low-Earth Orbit, Samantha Betts

Small Satellite Conference

The mission concept proposed seeks to advance the state of the art for on-orbit deployment of joint mechanisms using a family of novel high-strength reversible adhesives known as Aromatic Thermosetting coPolyesters (ATSP). These are self-healing polymers that can be used as a robust reversible adhesive capable of many cycles of reversibility through application of heat and pressure. Their use in orbital deployment could lead to a significant decrease in the complexity and weight penalty associated with deployable mechanisms. Orbital aging studies are being performed to test the material in a relevant environment, but testing of the reversible adhesion has only …

Thermal Risk Mitigation Testing Of The Darkness Observatory For Fermi Nationalaccelerator Laboratory, Phoenix M. Alpine, Michael F. Lembeck, Juan V. Estrada

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents the prototype design and laboratory test results of the thermal control system for the Dark matter as sterile Neutrino Search Satellite (DarkNESS). A collaboration between Fermilab, CU Aerospace, and the University of Illinois Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems (LASSI), the 6U satellite uses a Skipper CCD to detect weak 3.55 – 3.57 keV X-ray emissions, previously discovered by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observatories. To minimize read-out noise, the thermal control system incorporates a 10 W integral rotary cryocooler and passive heat transfer elements, maintaining the CCD at an operating temperature of 170 …

A Hybrid Microvibration Numerical Model For Cubesat Reactionwheel Ball Bearing Imperfections, Mattia Longato, Thomas Hughes, Vladimir Yotov, Guglielmo Saverio Aglietti

Small Satellite Conference

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Low-Cost Energy Storage Solution For Cubesats, Isaac Garon, Olivia Fairlamb, Deepak R. Mishra

Small Satellite Conference

The Board of Batteries (BoBa) is the battery management and energy storage board for MEMESat-1. BoBa captures the energy generated by solar panels during periods of illumination and provides power to the satellite during eclipse. This research focuses on the development of a simple and effective electrical subsystem that uses a low-cost Lithium-Ion battery pack to store and supply power to the satellite. Heating and battery management circuits keep the batteries within desired temperature and voltage ranges. BoBa’s objective is a simple and low-cost satellite energy storage system; consequently, these designs are implemented with affordable consumer parts. BoBa challenges the …

Development Of An Innovative Payload Interface Board For Cubesats, Michael Harrigan, Evan Widloski, Michael Lembeck

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents a modular, general-purpose payload interface board for rapidly integrating experiment hardware with existing CubeSat control electronics. The PayLoad Support Board (PLSB) provides four configurable power and data interfaces based on the MikroBUS™ standard on a custom-printed circuit board conforming to the CubeSat 1U physical standards. The MikroBUS™ standard has over 1,400 compatible off-the-shelf sensors, interfaces, transceivers, displays, motor drivers, data storage devices, clocks, and other electronic modules, all with a standard socket configuration. Standard 3.3V and 5V power options are provided to each of the interface’s four sockets, and SPI, I2C, and UART communication lines are present …

Commute: Cubesat Swarm Orbital Maneuvers For A Mission To Study Uranus’ Atmospheric Environment, Dylan Barnes, Andrew Cummings, Paula Do Vale Pereira

Small Satellite Conference

Following recommendations from the 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, new mission concepts are being developed with the focus of launching Uranus’ exploration missions in the early 2030s. To minimize both fuel consumption and cruise time on our way to Uranus, we propose a Jupiter-Uranus gravity assist trajectory using a Falcon Heavy Expendable Launcher to deliver a 3000 kg spacecraft to Uranus orbit in under seven years. The spacecraft will be composed of a mothership of 2000 kg wet mass and a swarm of CubeSats with a combined wet mass of 1000 kg. Using the ephemerides data of Earth, …

A Low-Cost, Miniaturized, Homogeneity-Optimized Helmholtz Cage For Cubesat Attitude Control Ground Testing, Devdigvijay Singh, Michael Galvin

Small Satellite Conference

Reduced launch costs and increased interest from researchers and the public have enabled CubeSats to undergo significant evolution in the past decade, expanding their applications to include a broad range of fields such as communication, navigation, observation, education, and science demonstration. For a wide variety of nanosatellite missions ranging from Earth remote sensing to astronomy-related measurements and space debris tracking, the development of passive or active attitude control systems (PACS/AACS) is of great importance. Of the various attitude control and stabilization methods for small satellites, magnetic techniques such as magnetorquers and hysteresis rods offer modest pointing and detumbling capability while …

Development Of Memesat-1 Passive Magnetic Attitude Control Adcs Simulations, Jillian Russell, Sydney Whilden, Deepak R. Mishra

Small Satellite Conference

MEMESat-1 is a satellite mission out of the University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory. MEMESat-1 utilizes a passive magnetic attitude control (PMAC) system as its attitude determinations control system (ADCS). Due to the fact that MEMEsat-1 is funded by a non-profit, Let’s Go to Space, and does not have restrictive pointing requirements, the PMAC system is an advantageous ADCS solution. PMAC also requires no power to operate as opposed to an active magnetic attitude control. This is important because it allows more of MEMESat-1’s power to go toward payload operations.

Instead, the PMAC system utilizes an internal bar magnets, …

Development Of The Arica-2 Satellite Using Spresense As An Onboard Computer, Nao Urakabe, Takanori Sakamoto, Motoko Serino, Azumi Izawa, Kazuma Kamoshida, Tomoya Ushimaru, Yuki Tsuji, Hiroki Kato, Keiju Asano, Chisaki Iwanaga, Marika Kobori, Kazumasa Hiroshi, Yoshihiro Takagi

Small Satellite Conference

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are transient astronomical phenomena that emit enormous amounts of energy in electromagnetic waves, mainly in the gamma-ray range, for several seconds to tens of seconds. GRB observations are challenging because of the difficulty in predicting the location and time of occurrence and its extremely short duration. Therefore, it is necessary to notify about the discovery in space and to conduct follow-up observations by researchers. The AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system-2 (ARICA-2) has been developed to demonstrate a new alert system using commercial satellite network services. ARICA-2 uses SONY’s Spresense as its onboard computer (OBC). We manufactured …

In-Orbit Demonstration Of An In-Space Manufactured Selfie Stick Forsmallsats, Michael Kringer, Christoph Boehrer, Thomas Sinn, Ugo Lafont, Philipp Reiss, Markus Pietras

Small Satellite Conference

The poster presents a demonstration mission of an in-space manufacturing technology to extrude tube-shaped photopolymer boom structures for satellites. On the end of the boom a camera will be mounted to simulate a payload and to observe the manufacturing process. The boom is manufactured in a continuous motion and therefore higher manufacturing speeds are archivable than by comparable additive manufacturing methods. The photopolymer curing mechanism makes the process energy- and packaging efficient which enables in-space manufacturing also for small satellites.

In-space manufacturing will be one of the key technologies for the future space economy. Large and lightweight structures can …

Fcc Five Year Deorbit Compliance Tools For Standard Low Earth Orbiting Smallsats Employing Passive Re-Entry Techniques, Celvi Lisy, Prisha Sadhwani, Kei Chua, Angela Huang, Whitney Lohmeyer

Small Satellite Conference

On September 29, 2022, the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) adopted a regulation to address the growing issue of orbital debris, requiring spacecraft in orbits of 2,000 km or less to deorbit as soon as possible, but within no more than five years after the end of the mission. These regulations will be enforced starting in 2024 and will apply to network providers both licensed in the United States and foreign-licensed seeking U.S. market access.

Given the updated legislation, various communications providers may find that their traditional system architectures are not compliant with the five-year rule. In this work, the authors …

Mechanical Design And Testing Of Deployable Wideband Antenna For Nano- And Micro-Satellites, Logan Arnold, Greg Jovanovic, R. Zee

Small Satellite Conference

HawkEye 360 is an American geospatial analytics company that focuses on Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Satellite constellations comprised of microsatellite clusters use a unique formations to collect RF signals for geolocation. Spectrum-based frequency and geoanalytics are of great use in communication, wildlife preservation, and military defense. The Space Flight Laboratory (SFL)’s work and DEFIANT bus has been vital to the success of the 21 microsatellites within HawkEye360’s satellite constellation. The DEFIANT bus is one of SFL’s satellite platforms that has a mass of 20 – 50 kg, a volume of 36 x 36 x 45 cm, and follows the microspace …

Power System Development Of The Agu Remote Innovative Cubesat Alert System -2 – Arica-2, Azumi Izawa, Takanori Sakamoto, Motoko Serino, Kazuma Kamoshida, Nao Urakabe, Tomoya Ushimaru, Yuki Tsuji, Hiroki Kato, Keiju Asano, Chisaki Iwanaga, Marika Kobori, Yoshihiro Takagi, Kazumasa Hiroshi

Small Satellite Conference

We present the power system development of the 2U CubeSat, AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system -2(ARICA-2). The main goal of the ARICA-2 project is to demonstrate the real-time alert system of transient astronomical sources using commercial satellite network devices. 1U CubeSat ARICA was launched in November 2021. However, we have not been able to send and receive the data at this point. Therefore, we started developing 2U CubeSat ARICA-2, which is an improved version of ARICA, in April 2022. One of the possible causes of the communication problem of ARICA is the power system, such as a negative power …

Public Opinion Of Space Warfare: A Survey And Analysis, Johnathon Martin, Michael Dodge, Shayne Daku

Small Satellite Conference

In a democracy, public opinion inevitably has an impact on decisions made by national leaders. With this in mind, this research provides survey data and analysis that establishes a quantitative baseline of the public’s general tolerance of space warfare. More specifically, a range of hypothetical scenarios in which an adversary to the United States has acted provocatively were presented and respondents’ willingness to support a first-strike or respond to an adversarial first-strike was measured. Initial study was conducted to determine if the public is more or less willing to support engagement in space as compared to other domains.

Remote Sensing: A Cubesat Study, Thomas Mylotte

Small Satellite Conference

The purpose of this study is to inform small research groups on the potential Earth observation (EO) and remote sensing missions that are feasible and beneficial that can be conducted on small 1-2U CubeSats. The first steps are to identify the gaps in the current Earth observation missions run by the likes of NASA and ESA for example. By understanding the limitations of conventional satellites, we can match EO and remote sensing missions to the capabilities of CubeSat technology. Four potential EO missions are outlined describing the benefits of utilizing CubeSats alongside traditional satellites.

Recovery From File System Corruption On The Ops-Sat-1 Experimental Processor, Maximilian Henkel, Vladimir Zelenevskiy, Rodrigo Laurinovics, Omiros Papadatos Vasilakis, David Evans, Georges Labrèche, Dominik Marszk, Sam Bammens

Small Satellite Conference

Recover from radiation and wear induced faults on a spacecraft’s non-volatile memory:

• Regain communication with the processing platform.
• Identify the root cause of the issues.
• Develop mitigation strategies against further corruption.
• Return to nominal state.

The Doppler Wind Temperature Sensor (Dwts) Flight Evaluation And Experiments (Tes-16,17), Marcus Murbach, Lawrence Gordley, Joe Gubeli, Benjamin T. Marshall, Arwen Davé, Anthony Colaprete, Alejandro Salas, Ali Kashani, Kwabena Boateng, Avery Brock, Malachi Mooney-Rivkin, Stanley M. Krześniak

Small Satellite Conference

The Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder instrument (DWTS) developed by Global Atmospheric Technologies and Sciences (GATS) is a simple yet powerful tool with the potential to become a new window through which the study of upper atmosphere dynamics can occur. Based around a defense-grade infrared camera peering through a static gas cell used as a scanning spectral filter, a DWTS instrument can infer wind velocities and kinetic temperatures throughout the stratosphere and lower thermosphere. The DWTS achieves this scanning by measuring the induced Doppler shift and Doppler broadening of emissions as they pass through the DWTS field of view (Gordley, …

A Bimodal Science Measurements For Earth Remote Sensing On A 3u Cubesat Platform, Katlynn M. Vicuña, Yan Shan Liu, Nikola Mazzarella, James Crawford, Matthew B. Leonard, Stephan Devis, Glen Miguel Matsumoto, Sean P. Moroney, Kenny H. Son, An X. Vu, Yanan Zeng, Nalu Clemons, Miguel A. Nunes, Peter A. J. Englert

Small Satellite Conference

Solar energetic events, which include solar flares and solar mass ejections affect the Earth's atmosphere. While solar energetic events have been observed to influence the chemistry of the mesospheric ozone, a comprehensive collection of quantitative data detailing the frequency, energy, and intensity of these interactions with the mesosphere have, to our knowledge, not before been collected. High-energy charged particles from solar energetic events can ionize molecules found within the mesosphere, accelerating the formation rate of reactive hydrogen atoms and nitrogen oxides. This results in reactions that catalyze the conversion of ozone back into diatomic oxygen. The Variability in Atmosphere – …

Structural Analysis For The Modular Infrared Molecules And Ices Sensor (Mirmis) Instrument, Swati Thirumangalath, Leevi Salonen, Antti Näsilä, Richard Cole, Neil Bowles, Aria Vitkova, Keith Nowicki, Jon Temple

Small Satellite Conference

In June 2019, ESA selected Comet Interceptor as its first "F" class mission. A Dynamically New Comet (DNC) is a subset of long-period comets that originate in the Oort cloud and may hold some of the most primitive material from the early days of our Solar System. Comet Interceptor (CI) aims to be the first mission to visit a long-period comet. As part of ESA's ARIEL mission, CI is scheduled to launch at the Earth-Sun L2 point in 2028 where it will await a suitable DNC target.

The CI mission is comprised of three spacecraft. As part of the CI …

Engineering Challenges Of A Cubesat Mission Around The Moon: First Steps On The Path To Selenita, Tiago Matos, Luís Loures, Lidia Sato, Victoria Rodrigues, Thadeu Carvalho, Renan Menezes, Bruno Schuster, Denis Vieira, Paull Acosta, Douglas Arena, Ana Carolina Jeronymo, Heidi Haviland, Linda Krause

Small Satellite Conference

Flying beyond Earth's sphere of influence has been part of the main goals in space exploration. Efforts of the Artemis program now encompass different classes of missions, including CubeSats. With the challenges of deep space as mission drivers, planning, designing, launching, and operating a CubeSat for a Moon mission is proving to be a step up in difficulty. In this context, SelenITA Mission is conceived as a science mission supporting the Artemis efforts, planned to operate at Low-Lunar Orbit (LLO), flying below 200 km gathering space weather and geophysics observations, marking the first Brazilian mission to the Moon. This paper …

The Nasa Cygnss Smallsat Constellation, Christopher Ruf, Darren Mckague, Clara Chew, April Warnock, William Wells

Small Satellite Conference

The NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) is a constellation of eight microsatellites in low earth orbit at ~525 km altitude and 35 deg inclination. CYGNSS was launched in December 2016 for a planned 2 year mission and 7 of the 8 spacecraft continue to operatue nominally as of May 2023. Each microsatellites carries a bistatic radar receiver to measure reflected GPS signals from the Earth surface. The measurements can be converted to surface wind speed and latent and sensible heat flux over the ocean, and to surface soil moisture and wetland extent over land. Measurements penetrate through all …

Petrel For Astrophysics And Carbon Business, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Kei Watanabe, Toshiki Ozawa, Kiyona Miyamoto, Yuki Amaki, Moe Yasuda, Keito Otsubo, Haruta Miki, Akihiro Tokuyasu, Daiki Kobayashi, Riku Nishio, Yusaku Ozeki, Katsuki Tashiro, Yusuke Arai, Ryo Saito, Asuka Ohira, Ryotaro Noto, Minori Fukuda, Yoichi Yatsu, Saburo Matunaga, Hiroaki Kobayashi, Toru Nakano, Masashi Uo, Takashi Yoshikawa, Eriko Kusunoki, Yu Murata, Norihide Takeyama, Akito Enokuchi

Small Satellite Conference

A multi-purpose 50kg class microsatellite hosting astrophysical mission and earth remote sensing, "PETREL", will be launched in 2023. In the night side, PETREL observe the ultra-violet sky with a wide-field telescope covering 50 deg^2 for surveying transient objects related to supernovae, tidal disruption events, and gravitational wave events. Our UV telescope can detect the early phase UV emission from a neutron star merger occurred within 150 Mpc. In addition to the satellite observation, PETREL sends a detection alert including the coordinate and brightness of the UV transient to the ground via the real time communication network within several minutes after …

The Orbital Calibration 2 (Orca2) Cubesat Mission, Brian C. Gunter, Alaric Gregoire, Greg Badura, Christopher Valenta

Small Satellite Conference

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), has developed the Orbital Calibration 2 (OrCa2) mission in an effort to improve space domain awareness. OrCa2’s external panels have precise and well-characterized reflective properties that will permit various calibration activities from ground-based optical sensors, with the goal of improving the tracking and detection of resident space objects (RSOs). OrCa2 is a 12U CubeSat designed, fabricated, assembled, and tested almost entirely in-house using GT/GTRI facilities. It will be regularly observed using Georgia Tech’s Space Object Research Telescope (GT-SORT). A number of experiments can be …

The Esa Φsat-2 Mission: An A.I Enhanced Multispectral Cubesat For Earth Observation, Nicola Melega, Valentina Marchese, Agnė Paškevičiūtė-Kidron, Bernardo Carnicero Dominguez, Nicolas Longepe, Oriol Aragon Casaled, Irina Babkina, Alessandro Marin, Hano Steyn, Léonie Buckley, Jakub Nalepa, Sofia Oliveira, Giorgia Guerrisi

Small Satellite Conference

As part of an initiative to promote the development and implementation of innovative technologies on-board Earth Observation (EO) missions, the European Space Agency (ESA) kicked off the first Φsat related activities in 2018 with the aim of enhancing the already ongoing FSSCAT project with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The selected Φsat-2 concept will provide a combination of on-board processing capabilities (including AI) and a medium to high resolution multispectral instrument from Visible to Near Infra-Red (VIS/NIR) able to acquire 8 bands (7 + Panchromatic) provided by SIMERA SENSE Europe (BE). These resources will be made available to a series of dedicated …

Ninjasat: 6u Cubesat Observatory For Bright X-Ray Sources, Toru Tamagawa, Takao Kitaguchi, Yo Kato, Tatehiro Mihara, Kentaro Taniguchi, Teruaki Enoto, Tomoshi Takeda, Yuto Yoshida, Naoyuki Ota, Syoki Hayashi, Sota Watanabe, Arata Jujo, Amira Aoyama, Yuanhui Zhou, Keisuke Uchiyama, Wataru Iwakiri, Masaki Numazawa, Hiroki Sato, Chin-Ping Hu, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Hirokazu Odaka, Tsubasa Tamba

Small Satellite Conference

NinjaSat is a 6U CubeSat observatory designed for long-term monitoring of bright X-ray sources, such as binary systems between normal stars and black holes or neutron stars. NinjaSat is the first Japanese CubeSat dedicated to astronomical observation, and it is also a mission to demonstrate that even a small satellite, which can be developed quickly and inexpensively, unlike large satellites, can perform excellent scientific observations. NinjaSat realizes the world’s highest X-ray sensitivity in CubeSat missions by using gas X-ray detectors filling the entire space allocated for science payloads. The fabrication of the flight model payloads began in 2021, and testing …

The Cuava-2 Cubesat: A Second Attempt To Fly The Remote Sensing, Space Weather Study And Earth Observation Instruments, Xueliang Bai, Patrick Oppel, Iver H. Cairns, Youngho Eun, Anthony Monger, Christopher Betters, Quinn Musulin, Richard Bowden-Reid, Anita Ho-Baillie, Tiaan Stals, Xiaofeng Wu, Yijun Huang, Joshua Critchley Marrows, Julian Guinane, Zihao Wang, Anne Bettens, Andrew G. Dempster, Ignatius Bramananditya Rivaldi, Brett Carter, Jason Held, Andreas Antoniades

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents the 6U CubeSat mission conducted by the ARC Training Centre for CubeSats, UAVs, and their Applications (CUAVA) at the University of Sydney. CUAVA-2, the second CubeSat project following the CUAVA-1 mission, builds upon lessons learned from its predecessor. CUAVA-1, the first satellite launched by CUAVA, carried first-generation payloads for earth observation goals and technology demonstrations but experienced communication difficulties. A fault root analysis was performed on CUAVA-1 to inform the design of CUAVA-2. The CUAVA-2 satellite incorporates a hyperspectral imager for applications in agriculture, forestry, coastal and marine environments, urban areas, water hazard assessment, and mineral exploration. …

On-Orbit Results From The Nasa Time-Resolved Observations Of Precipitation Structure And Storm Intensity With A Constellation Of Smallsats (Tropics) Mission, William J. Blackwell, David Crompton, Andrew Cunningham, Shawn Donnelly, James Eshbaugh, Vincent Leslie, Brian Powers, Joelle Prince, Nicholas Zorn, Kerri Cahoy, Julian Chew, Amelia Gagnon, Samantha Hasler, Daniel Adams, Benjamin Kim, William Mccarty, Genevieve Taylor, Stuart Cooke, Michael Grant, Scott Braun

Small Satellite Conference

The NASA TROPICS Earth Venture (EVI-3) CubeSat constellation mission will provide nearly all-weather observations of 3-D temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones. TROPICS will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements (median refresh rate better than 60 minutes for the baseline mission) over the tropics that can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm lifecycle. The TROPICS constellation mission comprises four 3UCubeSats (5.4 kg each) in two …