Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

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.

Demonstration Of Integrated Operation Plan Automation For Cubesat Missions, Riki Nakamura, Shunichiro Nomura, Akihiro Ishikawa, Satoshi Ikari, Ryu Funase, Shinichi Nakasuka

Small Satellite Conference

Small satellites, especially CubeSats, are often operated with tight resource margins and small teams. Generating, managing, and validating operation plans under coupled power, thermal, attitude, and communication constraints is labor-intensive and error-prone when done manually.

This work presents an integrated ground-operations automation framework demonstrated on two CubeSat missions.

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 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.

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 …

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.

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. 

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 …

Investigation Of Functional Realization Of Optically Transparent Patch Antenna For Cubesat Downlink, Jaret Riggs, Ethan Wayland, Alivia Mckinlay, Isaiah Crookston, Samuel Green, Ernest Green, Tevis Hadley, Reyhan Baktur

Small Satellite Conference

The Get Away Special Radio and Antenna Transparency Satellite (GASRATS) is a 2U technology demonstration CubeSat. The spacecraft will demonstrate the feasibility of an optically transparent solar panel-integrated patch antenna in a spacecraft application. The solar panel integrated with meshed antenna efficiently uses external surface area, allowing for communications and power generation on a small CubeSat.

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

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.

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.

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 …

Nebulous: Applying Genetic Algorithms To Design Next-Generation Satellites For Drag Resilience, Rick Marcusen, Adrian Bryant, Julie Rolla, Max Foreback, Evan Imata, Emily Dolson, Kyle Helson, Marcin Pilinski, Anselmo C. Pontes, Jonathan Sy, Joey Wagner, Scott Palo

Small Satellite Conference

Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) is a region of space between ~150-400 km that is becoming increasingly valuable for operators of large satellite constellations. VLEO's proximity to the Earth enables improved technical performance, such as higher surface image resolution and lower communications latency, as well as less expensive and more frequent launch opportunities. However, one significant disadvantage to operating in VLEO is the increased effects of aerodynamic drag, which can reduce a mission's lifetime and decrease a spacecraft's position accuracy. To address this, we introduce NEBULOUS, a genetic algorithm-based design tool that evolves spacecraft geometries through generations of mutation and …

Progressing From High-Altitude Balloon Validation To Orbit: Establishing Cubesat Capability In Nevada Through Incremental Design, Kylee Brahma, Leandro Araiza, Christian Ługowski

Small Satellite Conference

UNLV ATLAS-1—Analysis of Temperature and Radiation in Low-Earth Orbit for Analog Studies—is a student-led 1U CubeSat mission at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The project uses an incremental approach, progressing from mock-satellite prototypes to high-altitude balloon flights and, ultimately, orbital deployment. By increasing system fidelity alongside student experience, UNLV ATLAS-1 aims to create a repeatable pathway for CubeSat development in Nevada and beyond.

Relative Position Determination For Satellite Formation Flying Using Radio-Wave Strength Considering Antenna Deformation, Sho Watanabe, Takaya Inamori, Yosuke Kawabata

Small Satellite Conference

Background:

Increasing use of formation flying in space missions:

• Requires formation establishment and maintenance
• Relative orbit determination is essential

Conventional Methods

• Camera
• Laser
• GNSS

Large size and mass are mostly required

Depends on the orbit and satellite attitude

Using received signal strength can overcome these limitations.

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.

Solar-Assisted Battery Charging For The Chipsat Architecture: Chipsat Updates And Validation For The Descent Mission, Mark Lohatepanont, Joshua Umansky-Castro, Val Zeitlin, Matthew Hurford, Mason Peck, Andrew Filo, Alex Burke

Small Satellite Conference

DeSCENT is a suborbital mission to deploy 100 ChipSats from Blue Origin's New Shepard near 100 km altitude. The experiment characterizes ChipSat free-fall kinematics and dispersion, and demonstrates their potential for distributed atmospheric sensing. The updated ChipSat combines rechargeable energy storage and body-mounted solar cells with GPS, sensing, onboard logging, and 915 MHz LoRa communications. Lab testing and high-altitude balloon flights validate integrated power operation and long-range communications performance. Preliminary mechanical testing supports the remaining deployment and flight-verification effort.

Tbearr: Tardigrade Bio-Exploration Reproduction Research Payload, Chloe Nissen, Jameson Feeley, Kylie Nager, Wilmar Galvez Alfonso, Amber Paul, Sean Crouse, Larry Fineberg, Francisco Crespo Cutillas

Small Satellite Conference

The mission aims to design and build an external ISS payload module investigating the reproductive response of Hypsibius exemplaris (tardigrades) to prolonged radiation in Low Earth Orbit. Experimental success will be measured by population density, as well as analysis of glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG, counterpart to GSH) via spectrophotometric assays. This will determine the amount of reactive oxygen species (compounds that cause cellular damage, ROS) generated, and how much of it was neutralized. In-orbit experimentation data, through post-mission experimentation, will be analyzed through on-board or astronaut post-processing and testing procedures. This will provide insight into the mechanisms behind …

The Effects Of Space On Pharmacology And Traditional Medicine: A Review Of Current Literature And Its Potential Impacts On Space Therapeutics, Pratyush Majumdar

Small Satellite Conference

Astronauts in space commonly take medicine for sleep disorders, muscle aches, and other miscellaneous conditions. These medications are taken under the assumption that they will work in space comparable to their effect on Earth, but mounting evidence is emerging to demonstrate that this is not the case. Using the principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, there are many physiological changes that alter how a drug is processed, changing their therapeutic effect. As mission times get longer, there is a heavier need to understand these changes and compensate for them in order to keep astronauts safe.

Thermal Analysis Of Small Satellites, Devansh Patel

Small Satellite Conference

Accurate thermal modeling is essential to spacecraft design, ensuring components remain within operational temperatures throughout orbit. This study develops and validates thermal models of increasing complexity to gain practical experience in spacecraft thermal analysis.

The GRIFEX mission is a 3U CubeSat launched in a 634 km circular polar orbit by the Michigan Exploration Laboratory (MXL). The CubeSat observed both 90° and 0° beta angle orbits during its mission, making it optimal for comparing thermal analysis results for small satellites in low Earth orbit.

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.

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 …

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 …

Generalized Attitude Control For Small Spacecraft, Patrick Mckeen, Niclas Scheuer, Kerri Cahoy

Small Satellite Conference

Published controllers are derived for one actuator set, pointing goal, orbit, and disturbance model. Porting one means reproducing the paper, validating the implementation, then changing hardware and mission assumptions together.

Concept Of Operation Logic And Implementation Expectations For Multimode Propulsion Technology Demonstration Missions, Logan Thompson, Michael Harrigan, Theresa Sandborn, Victoria Coverstone, Joshua L. Rovey

Small Satellite Conference

Traditional single-mode propulsion systems are typically optimized for either high-thrust, short-duration maneuvers (chemical propulsion) or high-efficiency, low-thrust operations (electric propulsion). For CubeSats, which are limited by mass, volume, power, and system complexity, carrying separate propulsion systems for each mission phase is often impractical. Multimode propulsion systems overcome this limitation by combining chemical and electric propulsion within a shared architecture, allowing a single spacecraft to perform both rapid maneuvers and efficient long-duration orbit maintenance.

Demonstrating a multimode propulsion system requires more than operating two propulsion modes on the same spacecraft. Shared propellant, feed systems, thermal interactions, power usage, and transitions …

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

Lighting Up The Moon: A Scheduling Framework For Cislunar Space Based Solar Power Orchestration, Vaibhav Bhosale, Andrew Woo, Ada Gavrilovska, Christopher R. Valenta, Ketan Bhardwaj

Small Satellite Conference

Surviving the Lunar Night

• 14 Earth day lunar nights
• More batteries, more mass, higher cost

Sierasat: A 6u Cubesat Platform For Space-Based Solar Power, Sutharsan Indrakumar, Ahmed Guller, Leann Cwieka, Justin Parry, Minh Nguyen, Kaegan Lucas, Carson Bove, Chaitra Nulu, Myles Thomas, Sophia Jones, Deepak R. Mishra

Small Satellite Conference

Reliance on fossil fuels, combined with the physical limits of ground-based solar arrays, makes a strong case for collecting solar energy in orbit. Earth intercepts roughly 1.4 kW/m² at the top of the atmosphere, but absorption by carbon dioxide and water vapour and atmospheric scattering cut peak surface intensity to about 1.1 kW/m², this results in an over a 20% reduction. While inclination, time of day, and weather restrict that to a narrow band of land for a few hours each day.

The Solar Incident Energy Relay Array (SIERA) is a proposed mission that will create a single 6U CubeSat …