University-Built Nanosatellites for Research and Education

Dr. Mason PeckSibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Northeast Regional Space Grant Meeting

NY Space Grant, Cornell University

ICE Cubesat

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What’s in Store

So you want to launch your senior project?

Cornell University's CUSatSome surprising new spacecraft

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Launch Your Senior Project

University Nanosatellite Program Air Force / NASA sponsorship 1-2 years design, build, test Seed funding ($100K of ~$500K?)

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Launch Your Senior Project

Cubesats 10 cm cube concept from Stanford ~$80k for launch in a "pod"

Cornell's ICE Cubesat:

Ionospheric ScintillationMeasurements with GPS

Cubesat Kits: http://www.cubesatkit.com/

6 cubesats

3 cubesats

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Launch Your Senior Project

NASA Reduced-Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program 25 seconds of zero gravity 40 seconds of lunar gravity

Cornell FlightsMay 2007

Cornell ExperimentMay 2007

CUSat An In-Orbit Inspection Technology Demonstrator

Space Systems Design Studio

Mason PeckSibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace EngineeringCornell UniversityIthaca, NY

Nanosat-4 Program Sponsors

http://cusat.cornell.edu

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University Nanosatellite Program

AFRL/AFOSR $110K seed funding for ~11 schools Biennial (2 years’ work) CUSat

• Cornell’s entry (only school in the region)• 40-80 students for 2 years• Won the competition and will launch in

October 2009

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In-Orbit Inspection Use one spacecraft to look at another Why?

In-Orbit Test Health and Usage Monitoring Fault Detection and Response Anomaly Resolution Requisite Functionality for In-Orbit Construction,

Maintenance, and Repair Enabling Technology

Vision for Space Exploration Responsive Space

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In-Orbit Inspection The Recipe

Sensors General applicability Unambiguous elative position & attitude Demo cooperative/uncooperative

Autonomy Mission Operations

Functional robustness Orbit Mechanics Ground Segment / Data End-User

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CUSat - A Few Small Pictures

Where the pieces go

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CUSat - A Few Small Pictures

What Makes it Work Carrier-Phase Differential GPS Use the phase of the carrier

wave (1.2 & 1.5 GHz) to determine distance among antennas

All antennas face the same way At least 5 satellites are

necessary (a blend of four distances plus one to resolve the ambiguity in the integer number of periods)

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CUSat is ambitious If it were simply a "me too" mission, we wouldn't waste

our time Train students on the right way to build spacecraft

(UNP objective) Necessitates a large team, >10% attention to systems

engineering Requirements analysis and management Formal trade studies Rigorous verification Change control, other best practices Complete documentation

Spacecraft in a University Environment

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Spacecraft in a University Environment

Students dedicate a lot of time and effort. That's the benefit of a space project: enthusiastic participants.

We select students for the project, accepting less than 50% of applicants

Students receive some course credit The experience has changed many

students' futures.

The Surprising Physicsof Very Small Satellites

Dr. Mason PeckSibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

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One Man's Disturbance isAnother Man's Propulsion System

Solar Sails Photons impact a

lightweight sail, pushing a spacecraft as if it were a sailboat.

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They’re typically very big

One Man's Disturbance isAnother Man's Propulsion System

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That's because solar-sail designers want to carry large things, like themselves, to distant destinations

What if we make a very small one?

One Man's Disturbance isAnother Man's Propulsion System

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The spacecraft-on-a-chip Solar cell, processor, magnetic coils, CCD

camera, cell-phone antenna, etc. all on a single piece of semiconductor

Propulsion: Solar sailing Lorentz force

Cost: 2 cents each? Launch up to 24 billion on a Delta-4 rocket…

Very Small Spacecraft

The spacecraft-on-a-chip

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Launch a swarm of them Shape a large optical telescope or other useful

device from a large number of tiny spacecraft

Very Small Spacecraft