Digital Commons Network^™

On The Automation, Optimization, And In-Orbit Validation Of Intelligent Satellite Constellation Operations, Gregory Stock, Juan A. Fraire, Holger Hermanns, Eduardo Cruz, Alastair Isaacs, Zhana Imbrosh

Small Satellite Conference

Recent breakthroughs in technology have led to a thriving “new space” culture in low-Earth orbit (LEO) in which performance and cost considerations dominate over resilience and reliability as mission goals. These advances create a manifold of opportunities for new research and business models but come with a number of striking new challenges. In particular, the size and weight limitations of low-Earth orbit small satellites make their successful operation rest on a fine balance between solar power infeed and the power demands of the mission payload and supporting platform technologies, buffered by on-board battery storage. At the same time, these satellites …

A Novel Approach To An Autonomous And Dynamic Satellite Control System Using On-Orbit Machine Learning, Maximum Wilder-Smith, Michael Pham, Matteo Gironda, Kevin Kwik, Michael Gee, Ryan Toomer, Samuel Bennett, Nicholas Shewchuk, Ashley Mcbean, Tarek Elsharhawy

Small Satellite Conference

Classical control methods require deep analytical understanding of the system to be successfully controlled. This can be particularly difficult to accomplish in space systems where it is difficult, if not impossible, to truly replicate the operational environment in a laboratory. As a result, many missions, especially in the CubeSat form factor, fly with control systems that regularly fail to meet their operational requirements. Failure of a control system might result in diminished science collection or even a total loss of mission in severe circumstances. Additionally, future SmallSat use cases (such as for orbital debris collection, repair missions, or deep space …

Nasa Leveraging Commercial Communication Ground Stations For Small Satellites, Yen Wong, Scott Schaire, Chitra Patel, Leslie Ambrose, Obadiah Kegege, Denise Thorsen

Small Satellite Conference

The Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program at NASA has reorganized its operations portfolio into two networks: the Deep Space Network and the new Near Space Network (NSN). With this reorganization, NASA can begin transforming to 100% direct-to-Earth commercial communications services for missions in the near-Earth region. NASA’s leveraging of commercial direct-to-Earth ground stations offers several benefits for the small satellite community, including lower cost, greater coverage, and increased technology infusion. In the fall of 2020, SCaN announced their intention to rely primarily on industry-provided communications services for missions close to Earth by 2030.

Commercial services are one way to …

Optimal Attitude Guidance For The Exact And Impress Cubesats Using Graph Methods With Pruning, Athanasios Pantazides, Demoz Gebre-Egziabher

Small Satellite Conference

This work demonstrates a high-level mission planning method for maximizing data output from a pair of scientific CubeSat missions. The proposed approach identifies the optimal sequence of attitude maneuvers to perform in order to maximize total downlinked data over the mission, while considering constraints on available power. Many scientific satellite missions consist of at least three target attitudes: pointing solar panels towards the Sun for power, pointing an antenna towards a ground station to transmit data, or pointing a payload towards a point of scientific interest. While careful mechanical design of the mission may enable all three (or more) target …

Autonomous Systems Validation (Sysval) Environment For Advancing Mission Operations, Kelsey Doerksen, Karl Fischer

Small Satellite Conference

In order to maintain the health and productivity of satellites, it is crucial to develop a system that can swiftly, accurately, and effectively reproduce the on-orbit workflow and behavior a spacecraft experiences. To achieve this, Planet created the Systems Validation (SysVal) ecosystem; originally developed to validate individual spacecraft subsystem design requirements, and has evolved to encompass satellite concept of operation workflows, innovating test processes while mitigating risks through the ability to rapidly mimic on-orbit activities in a lab environment. SysVal is a fully integrated hardware and software system composed of a ground station network and a mission operations center with …

The Flare Network: Vicarious Cal/Val For Earth Observation Satellites, Brandon Russell, Jeff Holt, Christopher Durrell, Will Arnold, David Conran, Arin Jumpasut, Colm Lynch, Stephen Schiller

Small Satellite Conference

Calibration and characterization of radiometric and geospatial performance is necessary for the accurate retrieval of information from Earth Observation platforms. For small satellite constellations, this is especially true to ensure data quality and consistency among multiple craft that lack on-board calibration equipment. The Field Line-of-sight Automate Radiance Exposure (FLARE) Network provides an automated, on-demand calibration solution designed to meet the requirements of both agency and commercial operators by providing NIST traceable data without the need for expensive campaigns o r on-board calibration sources. FLARE radiometric performance has been verified with Landsat 8 – OLI. FLARE was successfully utilized with Planet …

Automatic Optical Image Stabilization System Calibration, Validation, And Performance For The Skysat Constellation, Philip Linden, Nicolas Smith, Thomas Rohrbach

Small Satellite Conference

Capturing Earth imagery from low-Earth orbit causes blur from the spacecraft’s orbital motion. Planet’s high resolution SkySat satellites utilize an Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) system to reduce motion blur by mechanical oscillation of the payload assembly. Automated on-orbit procedures and analyses are used for calibration and validation of the system across a fleet of 19 satellites. OIS actuation settings are configured for each image capture through automated optimization procedures. The benefit of the OIS system is demonstrated by an increased collection ground scan rate with no degradation to image quality, thereby improving fleet production capacity of the SkySat constellation.

On-Orbit Demonstration Of Innovative Multifunctional Membrane Structure For Ultra-Lightweight Solar Arrays And Array Antennas By 3u Cubesat Origamisat-1, Hiraku Sakamoto, Hiroshi Furuya, Hiroki Nakanishi, Akihito Watanabe, Nobuyoshi Kawabata, Toshiyuki Hori, Hiroaki Ito, Takeshi Kuratomi, Yuya Shimoda, Nana Hidaka, Kazuki Watanabe

Small Satellite Conference

The 3U CubeSat OrigamiSat-1’s deployable membrane structure is 1m-by-1m in size after deployment and is stowed in less than 1U CubeSat (10cm-by-10cm-by-8cm), including a hold-and-release mechanism. The major significance of the structural concept is that it allows the attachment of thin-film devices, such as thin-film solar cells or flexible substrates for antennas throughout the membrane. This was achieved by two features: (i) use of textile and (ii) invention of hybrid boom made of tubular carbon composite and metal convex tape. In addition, a visual membrane measurement system consisting of stereo cameras was developed. This paper describes the new technologies developed …

A Novel Satellite Architecture For The Next Generation Of Earth Observation Satellites Supporting Rapid Alerts, M. Kerr, S. Tonetti, S. Cornara, J. I. Bravo, R. Hinz, A. Latorre, F. Membibre, A. Ramos, A. Moron, C. Solimini, S. Wiehle, H. Breit, D. Günzel, S. Mandapati, B. Tings, U. Balss, O. Koudelka, F. Teschl, E. Magli, T. Bianchi, A. Migliorati, P. Motto Ros, M. Caon, M. Martina, R. Freddi, F. Milani, G. Curci, S. Fraile, C. Marcos

Small Satellite Conference

The EO-ALERT European Commission H2020 project proposes the definition, development, and verification and validation through ground hardware testing, of a next-generation Earth Observation (EO) data processing chain. The proposed data processing chain is based on a novel flight segment architecture that moves EO data processing elements traditionally executed in the ground segment to on-board the satellite, with the aim of delivering EO products to the end user with very low latency. EO-ALERT achieves, globally, latencies below five minutes for EO products delivery, and below one minute in realistic scenarios.

The proposed EO-ALERT architecture is enabled by on-board processing, recent improvements …

In-Flight Reconfiguration With System-On-Module Based Architectures For Science Instruments On Nanosatellites, Tom Neubert, Heinz Rongen, Uwe Clemens, Egon Zimmermann, Stefan Van Waasen, Martin Kaufmann, Martin Riese, Friedhelm Olschewski

Small Satellite Conference

For science payloads on nanosatellite missions, there is a great interest in cost-effective, reliable and state-of-the-art computing performance. Highly integrated system architectures combine reconfigurable System-on-Chip (SoC) devices, memory and peripheral interfaces in a single System-on-Module (SoM) and offer low resource requirements regarding power and mass, but moderate to high processing power capabilities. The major advantages of these architectures are flexibility, (re)programmability, modularity and module reuse.

However, it is a challenge to use SoM with COTS based memories devices in a radiation sensitive environment. In order to achieve these requirements, mitigation measures, such as the use of redundant or alternative memory …

Optimization Of Tcs For Mfs On Smallsat, Sanika Birthi, Indresh Sahu, R. Sriraghu, Siddhesh Naik

Small Satellite Conference

MultiFunctional Structures (MFS) represent a paradigm shift over conventional spacecraft design methods resulting in a considerable reduction in mass, volume, and cost. It involves the integration of multiple subsystems into the structure, thereby providing space for high-performance payload options having higher weight. Thermal management of MFS is catered to by incorporating a high thermal conductivity composite sandwich panel. This is achieved by using high-thermal conductivity (HiK) face sheets made of pitch-based carbon fibers, and HiK core made of additively manufactured Aluminum truss grid. The conduction through the panel is enhanced using a core fill that acts as a thermal link …

The Eive Cubesat - Developing A Satellite Bus For A 71-76 Ghz E-Band Transmitter Payload, Markus T. Koller, Lukas-Maximilian Loidold, Thorben Löffler, Jakob Meier, Sabine Klinkner, Laura Manoliu, Benjamin Schoch, Ingmar Kallfass

Small Satellite Conference

A high-speed data downlink system provides many challenges for a CubeSat design. Two major aspect are an adequate power management as well as the thermal implications of the dissipated power. The goal of the 6U CubeSat EIVE is to prove the feasibility of an E-band link at 71-76 GHz and explore the influence of different atmospheric conditions on the link quality. The requirements of the E-band transmitter in terms of mass, volume, power and pointing accuracy outline the specific constraints imposed on the design of the satellite bus. The major design drivers of the system are the peak power demand …

A Wave Physics Approach To Electronically Steerable Antennas, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Vladislav Popov, Mikhail Odit, Geoffroy Lerosey

Small Satellite Conference

Electronically steerable antennas, that are compact, thin, light and contain no mechanical parts, are being more and more used for satcom applications on the ground, notably owing to the fast development of mega constellations; yet their use is still very limited on board. Indeed, all designs up to date rely on the same old concept, phased arrays, namely, a large number of sources that are phased matched to point in various directions. These can be passive, in the sense that a common feed is used to radiate through many radiators, or active in which case each tiny emitter contains its …

Nasa Science Mission Directorate Rideshare Office, Alicia Mendoza-Hill, Alan Zide, David Cheney

Small Satellite Conference

A Rideshare Office has been recently established within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and is focused on implementing the SMD-wide rideshare strategy outlined in the SMD Rideshare Policy (Science Policy DirectiveSPD-32). The goal of the office is to foster the maximizing of science, exploration, and technology return on investment by enabling rideshare or accommodation opportunities for secondary payloads on SMD primary mission launches. Sharing access to space is possible when a primary payload’s launch configuration has excess performance that can be shared with compatible secondary payloads. The SMD Rideshare Office will serve as the single point of contact in SMD …

Return To Sender: Lessons Learned From Rocket Lab’S First Recovery Mission, Matt Darley, Peter Beck

Small Satellite Conference

On November 20th, 2020, Rocket Lab successfully re-entered the first stage of its Electron launch vehicle, successfully demonstrating a soft water landing under parachute. The ‘Return to Sender’ mission was a major milestone in Rocket Lab’s program to make the Electron rocket a reusable launch vehicle for small satellites. The mission followed a robust test program in early 2020 and late 2019 that spanned parachute testing, mid-air helicopter capture tests, and the guided re-entry of two Electron vehicles on prior commercial missions.

This paper discusses the lessons learned from the ground-breaking mission and explores the development of Electron’s reusability systems …

Bringing Deep Space Missions Within Reach For Small Spacecraft, Richard French, Ehson Mosleh, Christophe Mandy, Richard Hunter, Johnathan Currie, Doug Sinclair, Peter Beck

Small Satellite Conference

There is growing interest in using small spacecraft for science and exploration beyond low Earth orbit, but these missions have been constrained to fly as secondary payloads on rideshare missions that launch infrequently and on less-than-ideal trajectories.

Regular, dedicated, low-cost science missions to planetary destinations can be enabled by Rocket Lab’s high-ΔV small spacecraft, the high-energy Photon, supporting expanding opportunities for scientists and increasing the rate of science return. High-energy Photon can launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle to precisely target escape asymptotes for planetary small spacecraft missions with payload masses up to ~40 kg without the need for …

Vv16: The First Vega Rideshare Mission: Lessons Learnt After Successful Flight, Christophe Roux, Elisa Nardi, Nicola Romanelli

Small Satellite Conference

The SSMS (Small Spacecraft Mission Service) program is a new multi-launch concept for the Vega and Vega C launchers, thanks to a new modular dispenser for the Small Satellites Market. The Vega Proof of Concept (POC) flight using the SSMS hardware was developed to provide solutions and services for the 1-400 kg mass class. The SSMS POC mission has successfully flown on VEGA VV16 flight on September 3^rd, 2020.

The paper describes the lesson learned after this first rideshare mission flight. Vega SSMS first Mission carried 43 different satellites ranging from 1 to 150 Kg from more than …

Launcherone Now In Orbit: Dedicated Air-Launch Brings Proven, Responsive Space Access With Historic Nasa Vcls Demonstration Mission, John Fuller, Jeff Kwong, Collin Corey, Kirit Patel, Bret Perry

Small Satellite Conference

The Launcher One air-launched rocket system, under commercial development by Virgin Orbit since 2015, is now fully flight-qualified. This small, dedicated launch vehicle first reached orbit on January 17th, 2021 as part of the NASA Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) ELaNa 20 mission, injecting ten small satellites into orbit. This historic mission saw the world’s first liquid-propulsion, orbital class air-launched vehicle succeed with incredible performance and accuracy.

Founded upon the capabilities of the Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft, LauncherOne maintains safe operations using flight controls and an Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) that have been fully internally-developed and certified by the …

Hyimpulse Small Launcher Sl1 - Access To Space With Hybrid Propulsion, Ferdinand Hertel, Domenico Mastrovito, Goutham Karthikeyan, Mario Kobald, Christian Schmierer

Small Satellite Conference

The Small Launcher SL1 is a hybrid propulsion based small satellite launch vehicle that is currently under development at HyImpulse Technologies GmbH, a New-Space startup, and a spin-off out of the German Aerospace Center(DLR). SL1 will be able to place payloads up to 400 kg into a 500 km SSO. Designed specifically for affordability, responsiveness and high launch cadence, SL1’s salient characteristics derive from the usage of hybrid propulsion units in all its three stages. The first and second stages are powered by turbopump-fed 75 kN HyPLOX75 motors (8 and 4 numbers respectively). The third stage is powered by 4 …

Small Launchers In A Pandemic World - 2021 Edition Of The Annual Industry Survey, Carlos Niederstrasser

Small Satellite Conference

Even with the challenges posed by the world-wide COVID pandemic, small vehicle "Launch Fever" has not abated. In 2015 we first presented this survey at the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, and we identified twenty small launch vehicles under development. By mid-2021 five new vehicles in this class were operational, 41 were identified under development, and a staggering 58 more were potential new entrants. Some are spurred by renewed government investment in space, such as what we see in the U.K. Others are new commercial entries from unexpected markets such as China. All are inspired by the success of SpaceX …

Interplanetary Rideshare Cost/Benefit Analysis: A Mars Mission Approach, Jordi Puig-Suari, Andrés E. Villa

Small Satellite Conference

In recent years the popularity of rideshare missions has increased dramatically. Rideshare missions have become the primary launch mechanism for small satellites and have provided high cost and logistical benefits for spacecraft developers. Rideshare launches are now available on even the most oversized vehicles, such as Falcon 9. In addition, rideshare opportunities are becoming available beyond launch, with several companies providing shared transportation services using transfer vehicles to deploy spacecraft in different orbits in LEO or beyond. The rideshare launch model can easily be expanded to interplanetary missions, and some launches, such as SLS-1 (Artemis 1), are already planned to …

Temperature Tides Across The Mid-Latitude Summer Turbopause Measured By A Sodium Lidar And Mighti/Icon, Tao Yuan, M. H. Stevens, C. R. Englert, T. J. Immel

All Physics Faculty Publications

Local full diurnal coverage of temperature variations across the turbopause (∼90–115 km altitude) is achieved by combining the nocturnal observations of a Sodium (Na) Doppler lidar on the Utah State University (USU) campus (41.7°N, 248.2°E) and NASA Michelson interferometer for global high-resolution thermospheric imaging (MIGHTI)/Ionospheric connection explorer (ICON) daytime observations made in the same vicinity. In this study, utilizing this hybrid data set during summer 2020 between June 12th and July 15th, we retrieve the temperature signatures of diurnal and semidiurnal tides in this region. The tidal amplitudes of both components have similar vertical variation with increasing altitude: less than …

Determining The Novel Pathogen Neodothiora Populina As The Causal Agent Of The Aspen Running Canker Disease In Alaska, Loretta M. Winton, Gerard C. Adams, Roger W. Ruess

Aspen Bibliography

Neodothiora populina Crous, G.C. Adams & Winton was determined to be a new pathogen of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) growing in Alaska, based on completion of Koch’s Postulates in replicated forest and growth chamber inoculation trials. The pathogen is responsible for severe damage and widespread rapid mortality of sapling to mature aspen (≥ 80 years) in the boreal forests of interior Alaska, due to large diffuse annual (1–2 years) cankers. Isolation of the pathogen was challenging, and identification based on cultural characters was difficult. Fruiting bodies were not found on wild diseased trees, but erumpent pycnidia were found …

Chronic Wasting Disease In Utah - Development Of A Risk Based Cwd Surveillance System With Updates For The Statewide Cwd Management Plan, Erica Stuber

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Development And In-Flight Testing Of An Iodine Ion Thruster, Dmytro Rafalskyi, Javier Martínez Martínez, Lui Habl, Ane Aanesland

Small Satellite Conference

The increase in the number of small satellite missions is enabling the development of new mission scenarios, requiring in turn further miniaturization of the systems onboard. An example is the deployment of small satellite constellations, which typically require onboard propulsion to perform phasing, collision avoidance and deorbit maneuvers. In this work we describe the development, testing and first in-space demonstration of a one Cubesat unit standalone iodine-fueled electric propulsion system based on a gridded ion thruster. The propulsion system, called NPT30-I2-1U, has all the subsystems necessary to its operation integrated inside the 1U volume, such as power processing unit, operation …

Cu-Enhanced 3-D Printed Fuels For Green Smallsat Propulsion, Stephen A. Whitmore, Kurt C. Olsen, Victoria L. Coverstone, Cagri Y. Oztan

Small Satellite Conference

The Propulsion Research Laboratory at Utah State University (USU) has recently developed a promising High-Performance "Green" Hybrid Propulsion (HPGHP) technology that derives from the novel electrical breakdown property of certain 3-D printed like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). This electrical breakdown property has been engineered into a proprietary, power-efficient system that can be cold-started and restarted with a high degree of reliability. One of the issues associated with ABS as a propellant is its low burn rate. It is well documented in technical literature that hybrid rocket systems generally have fuel regression rates that are typically 25-30% lower than solid fuel …

Lessons Learnt From Operating The First Cubesat Mission Equipped With A Hall Thruster, Paul Lascombes, Maxime Montès, Andrea Fiorentino, Tom Gelu, Mikael Fillastre, Antonio Gurciullo

Small Satellite Conference

Only a few electric propulsion solutions on-board small satellites have been operated in space, even if propulsion is nowadays seen as one of the most important subsystems for the future of small satellites. Exotrail demonstrated its Hall Effect Thruster propulsion solution in space at the end of 2020. It was the first Hall thruster ever flown onboard a satellite weighing below 100kg of mass, while also being the only known permanent magnet Hall Thruster demonstrated in space. Operations of small satellites with propulsion is a novel field and the behavior of such thrusters in space still brings new challenges.

Exotrail …

Hyper - A Green Monopropellant For Small Satellite Propulsion, Brandie L. Rhodes, Madison Piechowski, David Hinkley, Evan R. Ulrich

Small Satellite Conference

The theory, experimentation, and implementation of a green monopropellant propulsion system for small satellites is described, including the environmental testing and integration of the system onto a CubeSat slated to launch in early 2022. HyPer, named after its propellant hydrogen peroxide, was specifically designed with the smaller size, lower power availability, and challenging launch conditions of CubeSats in mind. Instead of using a traditional monopropellant management system –pressurized reactive liquid forced to a catalyst bed – HyPer uses the vacuum of space to boil the stored liquid hydrogen peroxide, delivering a highly-tunable flow of reactive vapor to the catalyst. This …

In-Flight Performance Of The Terminator Tape End-Of-Life Deorbit Module, Harrison C. Stankey, Robert P. Hoyt

Small Satellite Conference

The Terminator Tape™ is a passive deorbit module that utilizes both electrodynamic and aerodynamic drag effects to reduce spacecraft deorbit time. To date, three satellites have deployed Terminator Tapes, accumulating a total flight time of approximately thirty months. The first two deployments, on the NPSAT-1 and PROX-1 satellites, are starting multi-year deorbit profiles that will characterize Terminator Tape performance over a full solar cycle as they descend from altitudes above 700km. Additionally, the DRAGRACER mission recently demonstrated performance at lower altitudes, where aerodynamic drag becomes the dominant effect and has given insight into late-stage performance of the tape. Analysis of …

Flight Qualification Of A Water Electrolysis Propulsion System, Allison Porter, Mason Freedman, Richard Grist, Conlan Wesson, Mark Hanson

Small Satellite Conference

The successful operation of the HYDROS^® propulsion system on NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstration (PTD)-1 mission is the first flight demonstration of a water electrolysis thruster. This hybrid electrical/chemical propulsion system was launched in January 2021 on PTD-1, and testing of the HYDROS propulsion system was carried out over the first half of 2021. HYDROS electrolyzes liquid water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, which are then combusted in a bipropellant rocket nozzle. The PTD-1 flight demonstration characterized the performance by performing a series of thrust events at varying operational parameters. The results show that this system delivers a relatively high …