CUBESAT
Miniature Satellite of The Future
A satellite that fits into your
hands
Key Concepts
At its most fundamental
level, the CubeSat can be
defined as a discrete but
scalable 100 x 100 x 100 mm
cuboid spacecraft unit.
The weight of CubeSat is 1 kg
or less.
CubeSat can be classified
into Picosattelite (a
satellite with weight of 0.1-
1kg).
Who thinks of this?
The CubeSat
origin lies with
Prof. Twiggs of
Stanford
It was proposed
University
as a vehicle to
support hands-on
university-level
space education
and opportunities
for low-cost
space access.
Missions History
There have been some
successes in the CubeSat
missions, quite a number of
partial successes and
finally a not insignificant
number of complete
failures.
Taking data from the
statistics are:
15 satellites with full
radio contact
5 satellites with limited
contact
Successful CubeSat Missions
CubeSat XI-V
Launch Date:
27 October, 2005
Organization:
University of Tokyo
Altitude:
700 km
Capabilities:
Earth imaging mission. More than 250 images were taken by the CMOS
camera; 80 images were downlinked for six months in its orbit.
Successful CubeSat Missions
QuakeSat-I
Launch Date:
30 June 2003
Organization:
Quakefinder, LLC
Altitude:
700-900 km
Capabilities:
For earth and earthquake activity observation and as a magnetometer.
Advantages
The major intended benefit of
cubesats has been its educational
value.
The relatively short time periods
for the development and delivery to
launch, also leave sufficient time
for the in-orbit testing and operation
of the satellite.
CubeSat costs a lot less than
ordinary satellites. Traditional satellites can
cost $280 million. CubeSat projects can cost as little as $ 50,000.
What is it made of?
Design is based on a frame of
aluminum with sides made of
carbon fibres.
Size of the satellite has to
be 10 x 10 x 10cm. Mass is
limited to 1kg.
The material must be able
to withstand high
temperature
variations,vibrations and
shocks, radiation, and the
vacuum in space.
Common CubeSat Parts
Common CubeSat Parts
1 Main PCB 8 Antenna
mount
2 Data 9 Dipole
port antenna
connect
or
3 Remove 1 Battery
before 0 pack
flight
switch
4 Deploym 11 Solar
ent panel
switch
5 Transcei 1 Solar
ver A 2 panel
(sun
sensor
side)
6 Transcei 1 Sun
ver B 3 sensor
7 RF PCB 1 Camera
4
CubeSat Parts
Dipole Antenna
Two dipole antennas are mounted on opposite faces of the
cubesat (+Y and –Y), in a crossed position from one another.
Cost: USD 4000
Deployment Switch
The two micro-switches are mounted in parallel. The activation
of the CubeSat will start when one of the micro-switch is
activate more than 30 seconds.
Transceiver System
It provides telemetry, telecommand and beacon capability in a
single board. Cost: USD 11000.
What is the source of the power?
Rely on batteries and solar panels, placed on the
surfaces of 5 out of the 6 sides of the satellite. Cost
of solar panel is around USD 3000 and the battery
costs around USD 1500.
Batteries provide energy when the satellite is
eclipsed or whenever the power use exceeds the
power input.
The available power on board the satellite will depend
on the amount of daily sunlight on the solar panels to
re-charge the batteries as well as on the
environmental effects in the orbit.
How to communicate with ground
station?
OBC (On Board Computer) unit is used to receive
commands from the ground station as well as for
transmitting the on board status of the images
recorded during flight.
Antenna on the ground is used to communicate with
the CubeSat from ground which follows the satellite's
motion over the sky.
Image Capturing
The camera take images of the ground with a field
of view of about 150 x 115 km and a resolution of
1280 x 1024 pixels with a color depth of 24bit.
The camera chip is generally based on 1.3
megapixel and is capable of full motion 640x480
video at 30 frames per second. Cost:USD 300.
Attitude Control
ACS (Attitude Control System) is required to point the
camera towards the correct target for imaging and for
communication.
It points the camera away from the sun and point three of
the satellites sides with the solar panels towards the sun.
To determine the satellites attitude, two types of sensors
are used: magnetometer and sun sensor. Cost: USD
3000.
Launch Mechanism
The CubeSat will be launched
into space together with other
CubeSats inside a deployer
called P-POD deployer.
Launch and Orbit
CubeSat is launched with an
exit velocity around 0.3 m/s. It
remains close to one another
for a relatively long time.
The P-Pod deploys CubeSat in
an sun synchronous Low Earth
Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of
approximately 800km.
The lifetime of the satellite
has been assumed to be one
year, after which it sooner or
later will degrade due to
Applications
The main application of CubeSat is
for high resolution earth image
capturing.
To detect earthquakes on the
surface of the earth.
To measure the molecular oxygen
airglow emissions in the
mesosphere of earth.
.For low cost GPS application.
Conclusion
A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite dedicated for space
research. CubeSat is very small, low cost functional satellite. It
can even be designed, built and launched by undergraduate
students.
Currently, CubeSats have been used for a number of scientific
experiments, particularly in the field of space weather.
In the future, it is likely that constellations of CubeSats will be
used for larger science mission, communication systems, and
military tactical missions.
