Digital Commons Network^™

Advanced Ai Deployment On Smallsats: A Mixed Precision Approach To Onboard Perception And Fpga-Gated Inference, Margaret Michelsen, Jackson Gardner, Shawn Jones, Jackson Kulik, Mario Harper

Small Satellite Conference

MOTIVATION:

SmallSats are asked to make time-sensitive calls (vessel detection, cloud filtering, debris tracking) but CubeSat-class compute is starved for power, memory, and radiation-tolerant silicon.

Most missions still downlink raw imagery for ground processing, costing hours-to-days of latency and scarce bandwidth. Running inference onboard means solving two separate problems:

• When to run inference: compute and power budgets can’t tolerate a neural network firing on every frame.
• Whether it fits when it does run: the model has to live inside a memory and compute envelope measured in megabytes, not gigabytes.

Characterizing Rolling-Shutter Distortions In A 1u Cubesat Camera Using Led Strobe Imaging, Sharon Chan, Arseniy Dolgov, Andrea Schildhorn, Jenny Zhu, David Michelson

Small Satellite Conference

The ArduCAM OV5642 rolling shutter sensor was selected for ALEASAT because its simpler design results in reduced cost, power consumption, and heat generation. Although rolling shutter readout can introduce image skew due to the relative motion between the CubeSat and Earth, these sensors provide sufficient resolution and sensitivity within mission constraints. The feasibility of de-skewing, therefore, depends on the stability and predictability of the rolling shutter readout. Camera testing is not currently included in ISO 19683 (Space Systems – Design qualification and acceptance tests of small spacecraft and units). This work could be a step towards addressing that omission.

The …

Coconut: Student-Led Development And On-Orbit Operation Of A 1u Lora Amateur Radio Cubesat, Ricardo Ontiveros, Quang Huy Dinh, Tyler Nielsen, Josh Sink, Noah Campos, Michael Goryll, Joe Dubois

Small Satellite Conference

The Coconut CubeSat was launched aboard the Cygnus NG-24 resupply mission and then deployed from the ISS on July 2nd. Developed and built 100% by students at the Arizona State University Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory (SDSL), Coconut is oriented towards enabling students to engage in hands-on learning and gain engineering experience with spacecraft hardware and software systems. Coconut was designed for amatuer radio, with both a single-frequency digipeater and account-based store-and-forward capabilities.

Development Of A Design Tool For 3d-Printable Cold Gas Thruster Systems For Nanosatellite Missions, Mikolaj Szyszka, Katherine Smith

Small Satellite Conference

Currently, there are 5219 Nanosatellites and CubeSats in orbit [1]. A decade ago, this number was only 800 [1], with forecasts predicting a total of 14,000 small satellites in orbit by 2033 [2]. However, out of the ones that are currently operational, only about 5% are equipped with a propulsion system. Omitting the electric and classified thrusters, cold gas systems are the most popular due to their simplicity and ease of operation. This shows a general lack of manoeuvrability and agility within small satellites in orbit. The proposed C.O.N.E tool aims to bridge the gap between nanosatellite manufacturers and simple …

Feasibility Study Of Nofb Propulsion Systems For Multi-Altitude Earth Observation Missions, Jingeon Kim, Eunwoo Jung, Minwoo Lee

Small Satellite Conference

• Earth observation (EO) satellites represent the largest and fastest growing segment of the satellite industry ^[1].
• Higher imaging resolution can be achieved either by enlarging the optical system-which increases satellite dry mass-or by lowering operational altitude, where increased atmospheric drag demands continuous propulsive orbit maintenance^[2].
• At Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), atmospheric drag increases significantly, requiring a dedicated propulsion system for sustained orbit maintenance.
• Hydrazine (N₂H₄) has been the conventional propellant choice, but its high toxicity incurs substantial handling costs, and its low vapor pressure necessitates a …

Project Minerva: High-Altitude Weather Balloon Cubesat Research Platform, Gannon English, Gabrielle Guirguis, Jose Murphy, Lena Wang, Ethan Yemm

Small Satellite Conference

Minerva is an undergraduate student-led high-altitude balloon (HAB) platform developed to provide repeatable, low-cost, and flight-proven testing of experimental payloads and communications systems in near-stratosphere environments. Originally an atmospheric data experiment, it has evolved into a modular testbed supporting missions for both internal research and external student organizations.

Multi-Satellite Optical Link Scheduling With Direct Nonlinear Attitude Planning, Leif Nelson, Yung-Jai Pomeroy, Daniel J. Garcia

Small Satellite Conference

The Problem:

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations increasingly rely on Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISL) to route data across dynamic satellite networks. As satellites move through their orbits, communications continuously change due to line-of-sight constraints, link quality variations, and spacecraft pointing limitations. Traditional routing approaches often consider network optimization separately from spacecraft attitude control, creating a disconnect between planned routes and physically achievable communication links. This work addresses the challenge of simultaneously generating communication routes while validating that satellites can physically point toward their assigned target. The result is an end-to-end framework that integrates network planning, optical link feasibility, and spacecraft …

Software-Driven Multi-Strip Imaging Mission Planning And Attitude Control For An Agile 6u Earth Observation Cubesat, Fatimah Alzedany, Atif Mahmood

Small Satellite Conference

Mission Opportunity:

A 20-km native swath limits the ground coverage achievable by a nadir-pointing 6U CubeSat within a single orbital pass.

SOFTWARE, NOT NEW HARDWARE

Use access-window analysis and time-tagged attitude commands to exploit spacecraft agility without modifying the payload.

Tracking Assembly For The Pulse-A Optical Ground Station, Rodrigo Spinola E Castro, Ashley Ashiku, Elizabeth Rosario, Juan Ignacio Prieto Asbun, Robert Pitu, Tian Zhong

Small Satellite Conference

PULSE-A is the University of Chicago’s student-led 3U CubeSat mission to demonstrate a space-to-ground optical downlink at a data rate of 1 to 10 Mbps using circular polarization shift keying (CPolSK).

Iterative Determination Of Pressures In The Refueling Process Of The Pw-Sat3 Satellite, Jakub Paziewski, Michał Niewiadomski, Paweł Senda, Jakub Dresler, Mikołaj Kmin, Kacper Kordek

Small Satellite Conference

PW-Sat3 is a 3U CubeSat being developed by the Students’ Space Association at the Warsaw University of Technology. It is a third satellite in the PW-Sat series, following PW-Sat with a deorbitation tail and PW-Sat2 with a deorbitation sail. PW Sat3 will be equipped with a warm-gas propulsion system and an authorial AOCS written by the students.

The final goal is to perform orbital decay by lowering the perigee. Secondary goals include taking pictures of the planet and evaluating innovative Earth horizon sensors using the satellite as a platform for amateur radio experiments.

Using Ai And Photometry To Locate And Characterize Exoplanets For Small Satellites, Ella Vosburg, Herb Hess, Christine Page

Small Satellite Conference

This poster reports a theoretical design of a spectrometer and deformable mirrors on a CubeSat, coding for preprocessing of data, and how an AI model will be used in postprocessing with Jupiter and its moons as a test case.

Searching for and characterizing exoplanets has driven the design and execution of many observational space missions, as demonstrated by several well-known large telescopes. However, some challenges to expanding our knowledge of the universe remain, including competitive observation times and high cost. This leads to the incumbent methods of using archival transit and spectroscopic data.

Smaller satellites have an advantage on these …

Cognitive Warfare And The Brain-As-Battlespace: Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, And The Emerging Domain Of Neurostrategic Competition, James Giordano, Robert Schmidle

Strategic Insights

The human brain is becoming a consequential arena of strategic competition. This commentary looks at how cognitive warfare draws on the neural processes underlying perception, emotion, trust, identity, judgment, and decision-making to influence individual and collective behavior. It describes how existing beliefs, biases, social affiliations, and information environments shape the way people interpret and respond to competing narratives, making natural cognitive processes potential targets for exploitation. Dr. Giordano and Dr. Schmidle trace how advances in neuroscience, artificial intelligence, big-data analytics, neurotechnology, and behavioral modeling are expanding the ability to assess and potentially influence cognition. Particular attention is given to population …

A Cubesat-Based Data Collection Architecture For The Catarina Constellation: Complementing Legacy Brazilian Data Collection System With Lora, Vitória Beatriz Bianchin, Carlos Augusto Porto Freitas, João Cláudio Elsen Barcellos, Gabriel Mariano Marcelino, Talita Sauter Possamai, Eduardo Augusto Bezerra

Small Satellite Conference

• The Catarina Constellation is a Brazilian CubeSat initiative created to enhance environmental monitoring and satellite-based environmental data collection across Brazil.
• The project was named after Hurricane Catarina (2004), the first recorded hurricane in the South Atlantic, which exposed the need for improved space-based monitoring of extreme weather events.
• The constellation aims to expand the Brazilian Satellite Data Collection System (SBCD) by evaluating new communication technologies, enabling a gradual modernization of the country’s environmental monitoring infrastructure.

Cubesats For Climate Change Monitoring (C3m): Demonstrating Interferometric Ir Payloads Scalable To Constellations, Miguel Nunes, Paul Lucey, Noah Thompson, Jharrell Sim, Samantha Mallari, Dennis Sarsozo Jr., Junjie Huang, Jaycee Hasegawa, Mari Murillo

Small Satellite Conference

• Project Objective: Develop a compact, low-power IR spectrometer for a modular 1U CubeSat.
• Mission Motivation: Enable timely monitoring of climate hazards, wildfires, volcanic activity, and greenhouse gases.
• Core Demonstration: Validated end-to-end integration and operation of a thermal IR payload on the Artemis CubeSat Kit.
• Constellation Vision: Establish a scalable, low-cost architecture for high-revisit climate monitoring.

Development Of A Compliant Mechanism Mechanical Battery For Satellite Applications, Trevor Carter, Bryce Christensen, Ryan Day, Anthony Bridge

Small Satellite Conference

Objective:

Traditional space power systems face severe limitations: chemical batteries decay in extreme thermal swings or drain over long dormant periods, and radioactive units lack the specific power needed for peak operational loads. BYU Rocketry’s Phoenix payload, a 3U CubeSat that competed in the 2026 SDL Payload Challenge addresses these gaps. Phoenix is a proof-of-concept mechanical battery that augments primary power systems, enabling peak-load operation and recovery from dormancy.

Experimental And Analytical Investigation Of Low-Power Resistojet Performance For Small Satellites, Ryan Mcpherson, Daniel Kichma, Nathan Paes, Benoit Larouche, Robert E. Zee

Small Satellite Conference

• Small satellite missions increasingly require propulsion systems that can deliver meaningful maneuverability within tight limits on mass, volume, and power.
• Water resistojet thrusters are attractive for this class of spacecraft because they are simple, nontoxic, and compatible with typical small satellite power budgets, but achieving efficient performance at low power remains challenging.
• This work addresses that gap through coupled thermo-fluid modeling, parametric trade studies, and experimental characterization of low-power water resistojet prototypes using a low-cost vacuum testbed. 

Power Simulation Framework For Korucusat-2 Using Freeflyer, Sahil Singh, Annabel Rong, Mukund Karthikeyan

Small Satellite Conference

A FreeFlyer-based power simulation was developed for KORUCUSAT-2, a low Earth orbit CubeSat designed to monitor silicon-anode battery behavior in space. The spacecraft model uses body-mounted solar panels with five modules on each of the +X, -X, +Y, and -Y faces. The simulation integrates orbital propagation, Earth shadowing, Sun-incidence angle, ground-station visibility, mode-dependent subsystem loads, and battery-state propagation to estimate electrical margin. Battery watt-hours and normalized state of charge are updated at each 30 s step so that critical, low-power, operations, and transmission modes can be evaluated against stored-energy limits. The framework provides a traceable prelaunch test bench for power-system …

Toward Plug-And-Play Sensor Integration: A Multi-Protocol Hardware Bridge For Nanosatellites, Pawan Kumar, Moritz P. Heimbach, Shayarrn Khatiwada, Jiten Thapa, Marco Schmidt

Small Satellite Conference

COTS sensors speak many protocols; but the satellite bus understands only a few. An FPGA hardware bridge board reroutes heterogeneous sensor protocols (UART, SPI, RS-422, RS-485) to the single communication channel with minimum latency supporting plug-and-play with no bus redesign.

A Proposed Development Process For A Hardware-In-The-Loop Testing System For Cubesat Components, Vahini N. Patel, Victoria Coverstone

Small Satellite Conference

Hardware-in-the-loop testing systems, commonly known as FlatSats, are testbed systems in which spacecraft subsystems, such as the onboard computer (OBC), power system, attitude determination and control system (ADCS), and communications, are laid flat and interconnected as they would be in an actual spacecraft. This arrangement gives easy access to each subsystem, enabling hardware and software testing and troubleshooting without risking fully assembled flight hardware.

FlatSats are widely used throughout the aerospace industry, from government agencies like ESA and NASA to private companies and university research labs, due to their versatility in enabling parallel development. This accelerates timelines and reduces …

Operationalizing On-Orbit Repair: A Conops For Gator Arms Small Satellite Servicing, Anais Mera-Sarnelli, Aimee Dew, Daniel Radu, Chrispher Petersen, Michael Generale

Small Satellite Conference

Mission Definition

• GATOR Arms (Galactic Autonomous Twin Operational Robotic Arms) was designed to provide in-space servicing to small satellites in LEO.
• Small satellites currently have limited servicing options, thus localized component failures can prematurely end otherwise viable missions.
• This poster develops the CONOPS for an operational servicing mission involving on-orbit inspection, repair, refurbishment, reconfiguration, reboost, or repurposing of client satellites for extended missions.
• The representative servicing task is the recovery and reconfiguration of an external deployable such as a solar panel, antenna, or radiator flap.
• GATOR Arms targets a 2-4 year servicing life, end-of-life disposal within 5 years of mission …

Software For The Alpha Cubesat Mission: System Architecture, Development, And Testing Behind Successful Flight Operations, Eric Zhang, Jonathan Ma, Joshua Umansky-Castro, Lauren Greenhill, Duncan Mcdonald, Damian Hackett, Maria Boza, Cameron Goddard

Small Satellite Conference

Alpha CubeSat is a 1U CubeSat designed, built, and operated by a student-led team at Cornell University. Its primary mission is to deploy a free-flying lightsail in low Earth orbit, carrying gram-scale "ChipSat" flight computers as a demonstration of low-cost distributed sensing in space. The spacecraft was built around commercial, off-the-shelf hardware, including a Teensy 3.5 microcontroller as the primary flight computer and a RockBLOCK Iridium modem for communication, and was developed and flown under the constraints that define a student program: a small power budget, a rotating team, limited development time, and an intermittent operations radio link. The CubeSat …

Ice Giant Watch Dog: Cubesat Concept To Monitor Weather On Neptune, Isabela Huckabee, Don Banfield, Nikole Lewis, Elijah Mullens, Abby Boehm

Small Satellite Conference

Why Neptune?

Neptune hosts one of the most dynamic weather systems in the solar system, yet it hasn't been closely observed since the Voyager-2 flyby. Existing observing programs [1,2] are too infrequent to capture the day-to-week timescales on which storms and clouds evolve, but a dedicated CubeSat could fill this gap.

The current project has two goals:

1. Explore the photometric precisions achievable by a CubeSat platform
2. Determine whether the presence of clouds will be detectable by a CubeSat platform

Helio: Ai Solar Weather Forecasting For Proactive Small Satellite Constellation Response, Kylie Nager, James Kirk, Cagri Kilic

Small Satellite Conference

Challenge:

Small satellite constellations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operate in an environment directly exposed to space weather while providing communications, remote sensing, positioning, and other critical services. Geomagnetic storms heat and expand the thermosphere, increasing neutral density, atmospheric drag, and orbital decay. These effects are especially hazardous during post-deployment and orbit-raising operations when satellites remain at low altitude with limited propulsion and recovery margins.

Operational Gap:

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center products provide essential situational awareness, but satellite operators must still translate environmental forecasts into spacecraft-specific decisions. This translation can introduce operational delay particularly when protective actions must be …

Design And Performance Evaluation Of A Water-Based Micro-Propulsion System For Cubesats, Wasan Al Salhi

Small Satellite Conference

In this paper, a water-based micro-propulsion system is proposed as a controlled and safe thrust system for CubeSat missions. The system is intended to prevent failure in the case of partial power failure or loss of control by providing a low thrust level that can be used for trajectory correction and safe recovery. A system-level analytical model and numerical simulations are developed to investigate the performance of the proposed water-based micro-propulsion system under emergency operating conditions. The simulations showed that the low thrust propulsion system can be used to greatly improve the safety of the system while maintaining the advantages …

Development Of Low-Cost And Mobile University Ground Stations, Michael Cargill, Matthew Watson, Patrick Bailey, Jacob Boutin, Wout De Backer

Small Satellite Conference

Recent years have seen a deluge of university-class small satellite missions, driving an increase in demand for ground stations. SatNOGS is an open-source network of ground stations allowing users to schedule observations on each others’ hardware. Most stations are fixed in-place. Mobile stations lack endurance or are high cost. There is a gap for a low-cost option for groups needing mobility.

Herding Cubecats: Challenges And Lessons Learned From A Student-Led Cubesat Organization, Matthew Verbryke, Samuel Kohls, Nathan Nguyen, Michael Carovillano, Donghoon Kim

Small Satellite Conference

1. What is CubeCats?

CubeCats is a student-led technical engineering organization founded in 2015 at the University of Cincinnati (UC) with the mission of providing its members with hands-on, educational experience in space systems engineering, primarily through the design, development, testing, launch, and operation of flight-worthy CubeSats and High Altitude Balloons.

CubeCats’ operating model differs significantly from many university-based satellite programs:

• The organization is entirely managed and run by students, the majority of whom are undergraduates (UC faculty and staff serve primarily in an advisory role)
• The organization is entirely volunteer-based, with no direct integration into coursework or on-campus research …

Measuring Space Weather Through Nitrogen-Vacancy Diamond Quantum Magnetometry: A Cubesat Mission Exploration, Patrick Bailey, Alberto Diaz, Jacob Boutin, Austin Downey, Wout De Backer

Small Satellite Conference

1. The Challenge

• Solar weather is constantly changing with adverse effects on earth and the space around it
• Solar flares cause communication blackouts
• Coronal mass ejections can damage satellite hardware, and cause geomagnetic induced currents that can damage the power grid
• Difficult to measure these effects in real-time

Micro-Servicer Swarms For Responsive Smallsat Sustainment: The Sdaw Mothership Architecture, Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba

Small Satellite Conference

The Challenge:

Sustaining The Mega-Constellation Era: LEO has shifted from a sparse domain into critical global infrastructure. With thousands of satellites on-orbit and tens of thousands more planned, sustainability is no longer guaranteed by launch activity alone; it depends on the ability to service, repair, and responsibly dispose of assets at scale.

• 7,500+ operational satellites in LEO (2024); 50,000+ projected within a decade
• 1,500+ trackable fragments from the 2021 Russian ASAT test; 1,700+ Starlink avoidance maneuvers followed
• ≥ 5 / yr large debris objects removed from LEO yearly to stabilize it (Liou & Johnson)

The Servicing Gap: MEV, OSAM-1, and …

Minimum Variable Speed Control Moment Gyros (Vscmg) Cluster Sizing For Full Three-Axis Smallsat Attitude Control: A Numerical Study, Khang Nguyen, Christopher Damaren

Small Satellite Conference

Small satellites demand high-resolution imaging, optical inter-satellite links, precision science — demand agile, accurate attitude control under tight mass, volume, and power.

Momentum-exchange actuators are the standard propellant-free solution:

• Reaction wheels: precise, but low torque authority
• CMGs: high torque, but singularity-prone
• VSCMGs: variable wheel speed and gimbal angle → high torque, added DOFs for singularity avoidance, dual RW/CMG operation

The gap: VSCMG research has focused on 4-unit pyramid clusters, whose redundancy costs actuator count, volume, and power — resources SmallSats can least afford. The minimum cluster size for practical three-axis control is not well established.

Mission-Driven System-Level Design Of A 1u-Constrained Reaction Wheel Assembly For Agile Cubesat Missions, Xixi Zhang, Ghadi M. Al-Amer, Teef A. Alharthi, Yaqin Saada, Shouq J. Alabdullah, Fadil M. Younes, Atif Mahmood, Ayman M. Abadallah

Small Satellite Conference

Mission need:

Single-pass multi-strip imaging compresses repeated retargeting and settling into a 3- 4 min imaging window.