Requirements for CubeSats: the Astrocast CubeSat Mission

Swiss Federal Universities of Lausanne and Zurich have initiated a new 1U CubeSat project. The main objective of the CubETH is to demon- strate use of commercial GNSS receivers in space and test Precision Or- bit Determination algorithms. One of the key driving requirements is to provide zenith pointing with a 20 degrees of precision and rotation rate less than 2 degree / second, in order to track GNSS constellation satel- lites. This paper will describe details of Attitude Determination and Con- trol Subsystem (ADCS) based on magnetotorquers in order to satisfy the science requirements. We will discuss lessons learned from the ADCS implementation on the first Swiss nanosatellite SwissCube (in operation since 2009) and we present the flat shaped magnetotorquers (MTQs) de- signed in the laboratories of the Ecole Polytechinque Federale de Lau- sanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, detailing design, test setup and procedures performed. The main lesson learned from SwissCube is to establish vig- orous testing procedures for all sensors. This paper will present tests set- up and procedures used for the present and the future tests in the labora- tories of the Swiss Space Center that take experience from the lessons learned. We describe tests set-up, interfaces and procedures performed to establish trade-off study for the sensors: static and dynamic characteriza- tions, temperature behaviors and others. The paper gives to the CubeSat community a validated and simple process to characterize the sensors for the attitude determination.

International Journal of Computer Applications

CubeSat technology has become a tool to encourage engineering collaboration, to train students providing them with a platform for real-world space exploration. This provides advancements in the aerospace industry as well. These satellites are made for a rather specific purpose than a conventional heavyweight satellite thereby reducing the cost. This paper discusses Cube Satellites, their design, salient features along with different applications and advancements made in the field of CubeSat technology thus providing an overview of a general analysis of CubeSat technology.

UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts X, 2021

The design of a CubeSat telescope for academic research purposes must balance complicated optical and structural designs with cost to maximize performance in extreme environments. Increasing the CubeSat size (eg. 6U to 12U) will increase the potential optical performance, but the cost will increase in kind. Recent developments in diamond-turning have increased the accessibility of aspheric aluminum mirrors, enabling a cost-effective regime of well-corrected nanosatellite telescopes. We present an all-aluminum versatile CubeSat telescope (VCT) platform that optimizes performance, cost, and schedule at a relatively large 95 mm aperture and 0.4 degree diffraction limited full field of view stablized by MEMS fine-steering modules. This study features a new design tool that permits easy characterization of performance degradation as a function of spacecraft thermal and structural disturbances. We will present details including the trade between on-and off-axis implementations of the VCT, thermal stability requirements and finite-element analysis, and launch survival considerations. The VCT is suitable for a range of CubeSat borne applications, which provides an affordable platform for astronomy, Earth-imaging, and optical communications.

In less than a decade, Cubesats have evolved from purely educational tools to a standard platform for technology demonstration and scientific instrumentation. The use of COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) components and the ongoing miniaturization of several technologies have already led to scattered instances of missions with promising scientific value. Furthermore, advantages in terms of development cost and development time with respect to larger satellites, as well as the possibility of launching several dozens of Cubesats with a single rocket launch, have brought forth the potential for radically new mission architectures consisting of very large constellations or clusters of Cubesats. These architectures promise to combine the temporal resolution of GEO missions with the spatial resolution of LEO missions, thus breaking a traditional tradeoff in Earth observation mission design. This paper assesses the current capabilities of Cubesats with respect to potential employment in Earth observation missions. A thorough review of Cubesat bus technology capabilities is performed, identifying potential limitations and their implications on 17 different Earth observation payload technologies. These results are matched to an exhaustive review of scientific requirements in the field of Earth observation, assessing the possibilities of Cubesats to cope with the requirements set for each one of 21 measurement categories. Based on this review, several Earth observation measurements are identified that can potentially be compatible with the current state-of-the-art of Cubesat technology although some of them have actually never been addressed by any Cubesat mission. Simultaneously, other measurements are identified which are unlikely to be performed by Cubesats in the next few years due to insuperable constraints. Ultimately, this paper is intended to supply a box of ideas for universities to design future Cubesat missions with high scientific payoff.

2016

2018

CubeSats are a type of pico-satellites that have a standardized size of 10 x 10 x 10 cm3 (1U), or 1U multiples, and weigh less than 1.33 kg per cubic unit. A few challenges arise when designing an antenna to be integrated in the CubeSat’s small structure. Miniaturization techniques must be used to shrink antenna size and deployable antennas solutions can be used when bigger antenna apertures are needed e.g., in applications that require a high gain antenna. Also, special challenges arise due to the harsh environment in space. This paper presents two different planar antennas solutions, for CubeSat applications. First, a circularly polarized patch antenna for the ISTsat-1 CubeSat, is developed. Secondly, a reflect array (RA) antenna is developed for a possible ISTsat-2 mission. The antenna for ISTsat-1 operates in the L band, more specifically 1090 MHz, and is for an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast mission (ADS-B). The second antenna operates in the Ka uplink band of 27 31...

2020

Overall objective: Real-time monitoring of solar activity • Science Payload: • White light coronagraph to monitor coronal behavior • Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imager to analyze solar disk for increased activity • Rotating gear wheel system to transition between EUV filters and coronagraph • Telescope aligned with active filter and CMOS camera • CubeSat design intended for constellation in heliocentric orbit

2018

CubeSats are increasingly used for Earth observation and astronomy missions. One of the requirements on the payloads in these missions is to gather as much light as possible. Given the small dimensions of CubeSats, the obtainable dimensions of the payload optics are reduced. A potential solution, which is examined in this paper is to use deployable optics. We have investigated different methods to deploy the secondary mirror of a Cassegrain telescope in a 6U CubeSat. One of the designs was developed into a prototype. Its performance was simulated and tested. The requirements of an example astronomy mission are used to verify if the deployable telescope could be used in such a mission.