mfc-mdr-pre-f

European Planetary Science Congress 2013

8 – 13 September 2013, London, UK

Mars Flyby CubeSat(temporary name)

22 October 2013

Mission Definition Review



CubeSat on an Earth-Mars Free-Return

Trajectory to study radiation hazards in the

future manned mission

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept

• Primary Mission Objective

• High-level specifications & secondary objectives

• MFC Payloads

• MFC Main Challenges

• MFC Preliminary Design

• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




CubeSat Standard• CubeSat concept 1999 => Deployment standard

Bob Twiggs Stanford University

Jordi Puig-Suari California Polytechnic State Univ.

• Many educational missions already launched!

• Only a few interplanetary cubesat projects

=> Interplanetary & Education & Science Data

2U: 10cmx10cmx20cm 2Kg (2.6Kg)

1U: 10cmx10cmx10cm 1Kg (1.3Kg)

3U: 10cmx10cmx30cm 3Kg (4Kg)

PACE Nanosatellite © NCKU

Robusta, MaSat-1 and PW-Sat © ESA

CSSWE CubeSat © University of Colorado Boulder

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




Primary Mission Objective

- Radiation Measurements -

• Lack of measurements between Earth and Mars.

– only RAD on CURIOSITY was successful,

– only on the way to go,

– optimized to study on Mars, not during the cruise.

• Lessons from RAD :

– « simultaneous multisite measurements are key-

data for Space Weather understanding »

– « Solar min.activity is a key-period to study GCR »

• Mission Focus : Scout the Manned Mars Missions.

– Future crews will be exposed to hazardous

radiations : which ones are dangerous?

– Catch observational data of radiation hazards

during the Earth-Mars-Earth journey.

Picture of RAD

Radiations Assessment

Detector © NASA

NASA Goddard Space Weather Research Center

22 October 2013




Primary Mission Objective

- Focus on Mars Science Laboratory/RAD -

RAD made for studying radiations on Mars!

MSL and RAD © NASA

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




High-level specifications

• Volume:

• 3U Cubesat.

• 1,5U for radiations payload.

• Trajectory:

• Should be able to autonomously catch a Free-Return Earth-Mars trajectory after

being jettisoned.

• Tool to be developed to early assess the feasibility of trajectory corrections and

flyby computation.

• Autonomous regarding navigation because no communications.

• Use of AOCS electrical propulsion and optical subsystems for navigation.

• Onboard image processing for navigation.

• Communications:

• Only opportunity soon after being jettisoned, in Mars’s vicinity using another

Martian orbiter and when back nearby the Earth.

• Sience data:

• Because of lack of communications long data storage and prepocessing.

22 October 2013




Mission Objectives

- Secondary Mission Objectives -

Earth Mars Free-Return => Small corrections of trajectory mandatory

CubeSat to contribute to the global hunt for asteroids and

other hazardous natural objects that may strike Earth.

Very accurate optical AOCS with propulsion system needed

Asteroid 2012DA14 (~50 meters wide) captured from Earth by the

La Sagra Sky Survey in 2012 ~4millions kms away from Earth © LSS

Near Earth Asteroids observed by WISE (NASA mission) © PERC/Chitec

22 October 2013




Mission Objectives

- Secondary Mission Objectives -

CubeSat jettisoned from a “host” mission going to Mars

if requested by “host”, CubeSat to take pictures of the Host

Selected pictures of the “host”, or Alert/Science data to be sent

to the “host” and transferred back to the Earth

CubeSat is a travel companion of Host mission,

separated by few kilometers (host's safety)

CubeSat to improve the situational awareness of the “Host” mission

Artist view of the Martian CubeSat taking pictures of its “host” © NCKU

22 October 2013




Mission Objectives

- Summary -

To scout the manned mission by catching observational data

of radiation hazards during the Earth-Mars-Earth journey.

To improve the situational awareness of the “host” mission.

To contribute to the global hunt for asteroids and


PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE

SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVE

(AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE)

OPTIONAL MISSION OBJECTIVE

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




MFC Payloads

- Radiations Instrument -Particle species Quality factor Relevance

Protons 1-7 Largest flux, large contributor to total dose.

He (α particles) 2-30 Large flux, high Q at low energies thus large contributor to

equivalent dose.

HZE (C, O, Mg,

Si)

5-30 High Q with large probability of reaction in body tissue.

HZE (Fe) 6-30 High Q with largest probability of reaction in body tissue, large

contributor to equivalent and effective dose (primary astronaut

safety concern).

Electrons 1 SEP precursor, highly penetrating, large fluence during SEP events

(even with Q=1, large fluence contributes to large equivalent dose).

Primary and secondary particles through spacecraft

© E. R. Benton, E.V. Benton, March 2001 Particles to be studied by Martian CubeSat

Quality factor (also weighting factor) = Quantity expressing the biological damage

Identification of ions by species (or at least by group, e.g., C–N–O) is required to use the

new risk assessment tools developed by NASA.

Study primary particles causing direct damage or undirectly via secondary particles

production. Goal is not to directly study the secondary particles.



22 October 2013




MFC Payloads

- Asteroids/NEO Optical Instrument -

F°(solar flux & wavelengths ) Integration timeDistance ast-CubeSat Pupil radius

704 Interamnia from Earth © Cerulli/Teramo Observatory

Projets Master OSAE / Observatoire de Paris

27/10/2013

e.g. an asteroid with a magnitude of 20 (260-500m

diameter) can be seen at a distance of 10⁶km

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




Main Challenges

- Trajectory corrections -

• Earth-Mars free-return trajectory that leaves Earth, fly by Mars and return to

Earth without any deterministic maneuver after Trans-Mars injection.

Trajectory corrections © Inspiration Mars Foundation

After

separation

from launcher

Before Mars

Flyby

After Mars Flyby

22 October 2013


STK trajectory of MFC



Main Challenges

- Trajectory corrections -

• After Trans-Mars injection, only small corrections of trajectory are needed.

• Use of an electrical propulsion onboard the CubeSat for trajectory corrections

and attitude control.

• Typically TRL 5 for CubeSat electrical propulsion systems.

e.g. Key Performance Characteristics,

Busek Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster © BUSEK

departing Earth at 8-9 km/s

1H thrust => +0.45 m/s

is this enough ?

22 October 2013




Main Challenges

- Trajectory corrections : a few m/s for ΔV budget -

YES !

Based on a Hohmann transfer

from Earth's orbit to Mars's orbit

Small corrections are sufficient

• to cancel the jettisoning shock (1-2m/s)

• to select the right approach path into Mars

vicinity. Prograde ΔV = +/-0.45m/s

+/-40'000km on encounter

+/-3H on Mars' path

• to select the correct flyby, i.e.

– Mars-focused hyperbolic trajectory

– Twist the orbital plane for the return(initial results, checks still in process)

departing Earth at 8-9 km/s

1H burst => +0.45 m/s

is this enough ?

22 October 2013




Main Challenges

- Trajectory corrections : (θ, ΔV) trade-off

ΔV

θ

22 October 2013




ΔV

θ

Main Challenges

-Trajectory corrections : (θ, ΔV) trade-off

(e.g.) a prograde ΔV=2m/s at θ=100° moves the apocenter by

~175'000km « left » (-x) and ~30'000km opposite to the Sun (+y)

Sun ↓

22 October 2013


22 October 2013




Main Challenges

- Communications -

• The CubeSat would acquire data during its way to Mars and transmit them to

a Martian orbiter while approaching Mars.

• It would also acquire data on its way back to Earth and transmit them to the

Ground Stations when back nearby the Earth.

After separation

from launcher

Nearby Mars

Return nearby Earth

Communication opportunities

22 October 2013




Main Challenges

- Onboard Storage and Data Processing -

• CubeSat needs to be very autonomous due to the lack of communication

opportunities.

• Data from optical navigation, storage of pre-processed data needed.

• Probably use of FPGA. Researches on FPGA for CubeSats.

• Strong efforts must be done regarding the onboard data processing.

Real-Time Onboard Processing for MSPI © NASA COVE: CubeSat Onboard processing Validation Experiment © NASA

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




MFC Preliminary Design

Radiations Payload

Asteroids/NEO

Payload

Electrical Propulsion

3 axis thrusters

22 October 2013




• CubeSat Concept



• MFC Payloads



• Conclusion

Table of Contents

22 October 2013




Conclusion• This Educational Martian CubeSat would scout the manned mission to Mars by measuring

radiations in situ over the full Earth-Mars-Earth journey.

• Improve the Space Situational Awareness for the Earth by notifying unknown asteroids and


• And in the case of a launch as a piggyback of another Martian mission, it could improve the

Situational Awareness of the “host” mission.

• Phase 0 : Mission Design Review 22 October 2013.

• Phase A : 06/2013-...

• Phase B : from 10/2013, new students involved.

• Precursor flight will be needed for testing some functions of the MFC.

• Free-return trajectory opportunity in 2018.

Dust devil hunters © 2005 - Association Planète Mars / Manchu

ALL MARS MISSIONS

COMPATIBLE!

22 October 2013


22 October 2013


REVIEWERS



Thank You!

Contact points:Project Mgr: [email protected]

System Mgr: [email protected]

Mentors & Supporters:

CNRS-LATMOS : Pr. M.Cabane, D.Coscia

Mars Society Switzerland : P.Brisson

Association Planète Mars : B.Segret

NCKU : Pr. J.J.Miau, Pr. J.C.Juang

Students:

NCKU : J.Vannitsen, A. Heimann

ELISA : A.Ansart, Q.Tahan

… and many others to join in the coming years!

22 October 2013


mfc-mdr-pre-f

Documents

mission definition review

u cubesat

future manned mission

study gcr mission focus

manned mars missions

rad nasa

earth journey

study radiation hazards