icubesat 2012.b.2.4 nanosatellite for earth environmental ... › 2012 › 06 › ...presentation...

Nanosatellites for Earth Environmental MonitoringThe MicroMAS Project

(Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite)

W. Blackwell, G. Allen, C. Galbraith, T. Hancock, R. Leslie, I. Osaretin, L. Retherford, M. Scarito, C. Semisch, M. Shields, M. Silver, D. Toher, K. Wight

K. Cahoy, D. Miller, A. Marinan, S. Paek, E. Peters, F. Schmidt, B. Alvisio, E. Wise, R. Masterson, D. Miranda (MIT Space Systems Laboratory)

N. Erickson (UMass-Amherst)

30 May 2012

This work was sponsored by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration under Air Force Contract FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the

authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government.

Presentation Name - 2Author Initials MM/DD/YY

• Introduction and Motivation

• Sounding Methodology

• Nanosatellite Spacecraft Technology

• Path Forward

Outline


All-Weather, High-Resolution, Persistent3-D Observations of the Earth’s Atmosphere

AIRS/AMSU (NASA Aqua)Mosaic of Ascending Orbits on Sep 6, 2002

Drives Numerical Forecasting ModelsSentinel for Severe Weather and Hurricanes

Important Indicator for Trafficability

Tem

pera

ture

(K)


State-of-the-Art: Large, Monolithic SystemsAre Distributed Systems a Better Approach?

NPOESS,DoD MetSat,NASA EOS, etc.~$1B per satelliteLong developmentHigh failure impact

Microsatellite constellation

Problem: Global, High-Resolution Atmospheric Sensing

traccane

Slide adapted from P. Eremenko, DARPA F6 presentation, Feb. 2010


The Nanosatellite Advantage

• Proliferation of the CubeSat standard (10x10x10 cm, 1 kg, 1W cubes)– Inexpensive COTS subsystems readily available– Launch opportunities on a variety of vehicles– Expanding base of prior art from the academic community

• Several successful missions with non-trivial science return– Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX), UofM, space weather mission (NSF)

• Sensor systems now practical at CubeSat scales– Driven in some cases by communication/consumer electronics– Passive microwave systems particularly well-suited

• New nanosatellite capabilities/infrastructure rapidly emerging– Space-to-ground communications exceeding 1Mbps– Sophisticated solar arrays– Propulsion systems


Recent Work & Enabling Technologies

Ultra-compact receivers

MIT-LL Division 10MIT-LL Division 8UMass Amherst

Novel calibration methods

MIT-LL Division 9MIT campusTufts

Multiband antenna systems

MIT-LL Division 9RF System Test FacilityNortheastern UUMass Amherst

Geophysical retrievals and performance analysis

MIT-LL Division 9MIT Campus

Space systems engineering

MIT CampusMIT-LL Division 7

NASA &NOAA

Beaver Works2010/2011

NASA & NOAA

MIT / DoD2011/2012





• Path Forward

Outline


Microwave Atmospheric Sensing

The frequency dependence of atmospheric absorption allows different altitudes to be sensed by spacing channels along absorption lines

Cloud Penetration


• Focus on hurricanes and severe weather• Near-equatorial orbit• ~500-km orbit altitude• 0.2-degree pointing knowledge• 1-year mission lifetime• 30 kbps (avg) downlink• 10 W (avg) power• ~$1M unit cost

MicroMAS-1 Mission Objectives


• 8 channels near 118.75-GHz oxygen line• 1 window channel• Cross-track scan• Spatial Nyquist sampling• 2.4-degree FWHM antenna beam• 95% beam efficiency• 1-2 W (avg)• 0.3 K NEDT• Noise diode, earth limb, and cold sky calibration• 1 K calibration accuracy

MicroMAS-1 Radiometer Objectives


MicroMAS – RF Front End

Worst-case average power: 800mW

First Stage Second Stage


MicroMAS Receiver Noise Temperature


MicroMAS Channel CharacteristicsLeft edge Center Right edge Bandwidth113.9135 114.2260 114.5385 0.625114.5375 114.8500 115.1625 0.625115.1615 115.4740 115.7865 0.625115.7855 116.0980 116.4105 0.625116.4095 116.7220 117.0345 0.625117.0335 117.3460 117.6585 0.625117.6575 117.9700 118.2825 0.625118.2815 118.5940 118.9065 0.625108.0000 108.5000 109.0000 1.0000

Approximately 1 rev/sec1-degree sample spacing (Nyquist)+/- 50-degree swath


MicroMAS – IF Processor

Worst-case average power: 500mW


• Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) filters offer lower insertion loss and better filter shape factor than striplineinterdigital filters due to their higher Q (> 500) resonators– Filters are realized in two-layer LTCC stack with via “fences”

creating the waveguide side walls– Via “posts” control coupling in between resonator cavities

MicroMAS LTCC SIW Filters

21.00 22.00 23.00 24.00 25.00Freq [GHz]

-80.00

-70.00

-60.00

-50.00

-40.00

-30.00

-20.00

-10.00

0.00

Y1

SIW resonatorXY Plot 1 ANSOFT

Curve InfodB(S(Port1,Port1))

Setup1 : Sw eep1dB(S(Port2,Port1))

Setup1 : Sw eep1

HFSS SimulationHFSS Model

WG cavity

Coupling (“iris”)

First Fabrication Run Now In Progress


Preliminary MicroMAS SimulationsSuper Typhoon Pongsona (Dec 8, 2002)


• Antenna subassembly complete and tested– Performance requirements achieved

• Receiver front-end engineering model complete– Prof. Neal Erickson (UMass-Amherst)– High-performance RF LNA– Electronic calibration– Very low size, weight, and power

• Receiver IF processor in development– Design complete– Ultra-compact, high-performance

• Radiometer control and data handling prototype complete

Radiometer Status





• Path Forward

Outline


Beaver Works III:Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite

• Lead: Professor David Miller– 2010 Fall (Design focus): 16.851 Satellite Engineering 13 on MicroMAS team

– 2011 Spring (Build focus): 16.89 Space Systems & 16.83 (undergrad capstone) Six on MicroMAS team, plus post-doc and staff

• Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite– Spacecraft bus developed by campus– Payload developed by Lincoln-led team

• New Technology Development– Ultra-compact receivers (Lincoln)– CubeSat spacecraft bus (campus)

30x10x10 cm~10 W average~30kbps~4 kg


4. On-orbit deployment(14 days)- Detumble- Spin up payload- Checkout

3. Launch as secondary payload

2. Pre-Launch Integration (P-PODCubeSat launcher)

5. Mission Ops (12 months)- Collect radiometer data- Transmit data to ground

8. Mission Termination

X

MicroMAS Mission Overview

2

1. Mission Planning- Altitude 475-600km- Inclination 20-60 deg

6. Fault Recovery7. Limited Ops


MicroMAS 3U Spacecraft

Deployable solar panels

Reaction wheel assembly

Avionics and communication

Scanning assembly

Passive microwave spectrometer10x10x34 cm

4.5 kg, 12 W avg

Body-mounted solar panels not shown


MicroMAS Bus Design

MAI-400ADACS Unit

ADACS Interface Board

Comm. Radio

Clyde-Space Battery

Clyde-Space EPS

Pumpkin Motherboard

Motor Controller

Magnetometer

Scanning Assembly Motor


• Engineering Development Model (EDM) complete in Oct 2011– Functional testing– Vibration testing– Thermal testing– TVAC testing– Air bearing testing

• Flight Model under development– Long-lead parts ordered– Design near complete (CDR Summer 2012)

• Launch to be provided in late 2013 / early 2014 by NASA

Spacecraft Status





• Path Forward

Outline


• All-weather sounding of highly dynamic phenomena, including convective storms, hurricanes, etc.

• Studies of the hydrologic cycle– Vapor, liquid, ice; precipitation

• Studies of the diurnal cycle

Constellation Approach Allows Rapid Revisit

icubesat 2012.b.2.4 nanosatellite for earth environmental ... › 2012 › 06 › ...presentation...

Documents