University of Leicester
PLUME
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
Vega Maiden Flight CubeSat Conference (22-24/01/2008)
D.S.W. Gray
Date
Updated Reference Number
change
30/01/2008
PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
first version issued
Leicester representatives
Daniel Brandt
Pippa Molyneux
David Gray
Contents
-Conference overview
-Conference objectives
-Leicester objectives
-Significant attendees
-Non-cubesat items of interest
-Cubesat items of interest
-Summary of the interview
-Collaborations
-Conference Outcome Summary
-Contact Details
Conference Overview
The Vega maiden flight is presently scheduled for December 2008. Due to the drop out of
the IBDM payload, space has become available for 6 cubesats, with the possibility of a
further launch for cubesats in mid-2009. The conference was chaired mainly be Helen Page
in the Newton Conference Centre of esa’s space technology centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk,
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PLUME
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
with approximately 120 people consisting of esa officials, European cubesat team
representatives, industry representatives and special guests.
Conference Objectives
The aim of the conference was for cubesat teams to propose their satellite as a candidate for
flight on the Vega maiden launch to an esa panel, and to stimulate collaboration within the
European cubesat community.
Leicester Objectives
The PLUME team’s objectives were to indicate an intention to fly on the second Vega
launch, to engage with the European cubesat community and to find possible institutions
who would be interested in collaboration by flying a clone of the Leicester payload.
Significant Attendees
Professor Robert Twiggs, Space Systems Development Laboratory Stanford University
California
Rudiger Reinhard, ESTEC representative esa Noordwijk
Benoit Geffroy, Directorate of Launches
Francesco Emma, Head of the ESA Education
Clemens Kaiser and Guerric Pont, Kayser-Threde
Abe R Bonnema, Innovative Solutions In Space
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Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
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Non-cubesat Items of Interest
Presentation by Prof. Bob Twiggs, Stanford University
Fig.1
Prof. Bob Twiggs presenting on education using small scale satellites.
The conference was opened by Francesco Emma presentation concerning esa’s Education
Office, detailed below. Following this was Professor Bob Twiggs’ talk on the Role of
Cubesats in Education. The start of cubesats began in 1994 when Stanford decided to build
an educational ~25kg student satellite in 1 year. This was called Sapphire, and was a
hexagon shaped craft carrying a digital camera and MEMS infrared sensor, and had a mass
of 22kg. By 1996 Sapphire was still under construction and work had begun on a second
satellite. At this time Stanford started to develop a ‘hockey puck’ satellite for NASA’s JPL,
which would be ejected spinning out of the side of a micro-satellite and take measurements
of the local magnetic field. In 1997 a pico-satellite test launcher for the ‘puck’ was created
and though highly mechanised, worked successfully. JPL then received sufficient funding to
continue independently, and then removed the funding for educational satellites from
Stanford. However with DARPA funding a new launcher and new designs of pico-satellites
were produced and fitted to the second micro-satellite now named OPAL for Orbital Picosat
Automated Launcher. OPAL was launched in early 2000, successfully deployed the picosatellites and gathered the experimental data.
The micro-satellites were expensive however, both to build and launch, and were completed
in 5 years which is beyond the student lifetime of a degree. Pico-satellites seemed the way
forward but had little power. A design with more solar cells was needed and so the idea of a
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cube was formed from a 10x10x10cm sweet box. In 1999 NASA lost the $125 million Mars
Climate Orbiter due to confusion over metric and imperial measurements. Bob Twiggs
decided that for this project the students would work in the metric system, and so a
10x10x10cm, (1 litre) cube meant that the students were already learning! So far of the 33
cubesats delivered for launch only 19 have achieved orbit because in 2006 a Dnepr rocket
carrying 5 P-PODs failed. Of those that launched successfully, 4 were lost with no contact, 5
had only intermittent contact and 10 had full contact. This means that cubesats are to date
30% successful.
There are of course other space related educational programmes, such as sounding
balloons of varying sizes, amateur rockets, desktop cubesats and in the future the possibility
for lunar and Mars bound cubesats. CricketSat is an example of a low cost balloon
experiment that required little in the way of a ground station and flew a temperature sensor.
Ping pong balls carried up on weather balloons to a near space environment offer the
chance for young students to fly a payload of their choice. Calpoly also used a balloon
mission to test an Aerospace GPS device and Iridium Telephone. Japanese teams compete
yearly to design and build rovers for launch in high powered amateur rockets in the Black
Rock Desert in Nevada. The aim of the rovers is to land safely and return to their original
launch position, though there are more simple payloads that can be flown such as CanSats.
An important spin off of these programmes is being able to bring information feeds or video
back in real time to class rooms. Projects such as cubesats demonstrate to school children
that there is no mystery in getting technology to work in space, and offer an exciting entry
point for engineers in the space industry.
Vega
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Fig.2
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Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
An artists impression of the completed Vega launcher.
The Vega launcher has 3 solid stages and an orbital manoeuvres liquid engine capable of
restarting 4 times and lifting up to 2500kg in total. The standard reference mission template
is 1500kg to 700km. The accuracy of the launcher is estimated to be 5km altitude, 0.05
degrees inclination and 0.1 degrees ascending node. As the launcher does not have
reduced thrust during the time of greatest atmospheric dynamic pressure the decompression
rate is more erratic than the Dnepr and Arian 5 sytems. The 1st stage is the 95.8 tonne P80
FW, which will burn for 107s with 2980kN producing a vacuum specific impulse of 279.5s.
The 2nd is the 25.8 tonne Zefiro 23 FW, burning for 71s with a thrust of 1200kN (vacuum
specific impulse of 289s). The 3rd, the Zafiro 9 FW, burns for 117s with 280kN thrust in a
vacuum. The 3rd stage has a total mass of 10.9 tonnes and a vacuum specific impulse of
294s. This means the burn time before circularisation etc will be 295s.
4th stage orbit insertion and refinement will be provided by the AVUM versatile liquid stage.
This burns UDMH with NTO to produce 2450N thrust and 315.5s vacuum specific impulse.
The engine can be fired 5 times and gimbal the nozzles by 10 degrees in two axis.
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Fig.3
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
The Vega 4th stage design.
Presently all stages have been test fired, though a failure of the P80 stage during its second
firing has moved the schedule back. Structural, electronic and aerodynamic components
have been tested or undergoing testing.
The Launcher System Critical Design Review was closed in September 2007 and the ground
segment CDR has also been passed. The AVUM stage will be test fired in April, the 2 nd
stage in March, and the 3rd stage in April and October this year. Electrical system (GNC)
testing will be ongoing until September, and ground segment and launcher combined tests
are scheduled for June to September. The qualification flight is set for October 2008.
esa have 5 VERTA programme flights scheduled operated by Arian Space, (IBDM, Aeolus,
LISA PF, Swarm and Proba 3). The IBDM payload will not fly on the VERTA 1 launch, so
the payload is also open for multiple payloads as well as the qualification flight. It is intended
to maintain a launch rate of 2 a year, although the infrastructure is in place to launch 4 a
year following 2011.
The maiden flight will carry the LARES mission, its release system, launch environmental
instrumentation and cameras, launcher independent telemetry, and supporting structure and
ballast. 20kg of this ballast have been allocated for education payloads (6 cubesats in 2
PPODs. The LARES mission requires a 71 degree inclination and a highly circular orbit at
1200km altitude. The cubesats for this first flight are to be deployed in a 354 by 1200km
orbit in the same inclination, although adapting this orbit for the benefit of the cubesat
missions is under consideration, further testing the 4th stage. Due to safety constraints the
inclination may vary by ±0.5 degrees, and it has been suggested that the orbit could change
given sufficient pressure from European partners.
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The main partners of the 7 country involved are Italy and France (Italy being responsible for
65% of the programme including 52% of the 1st stage). Further VERTA launches may offer
more cubesat opportunities.
GENSO
GENSO stands for “a Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations”, and should
provide near global coverage of ground stations linking them via the internet. As most
ground stations are inactive 97% of the mission lifetime GENSO allows other teams to use
the hardware to communicate with their satellite while it is overhead and the ground station
team’s satellite is not.
There will be 3 main components to the network. Ground Station Servers (GSSs) will run on
every GENSO station and will control the local hardware setup, communicating with many
GENSO capable space craft. Mission Control Clients (MCCs) will run at every GENSO
mission control centre to be used by the space craft controllers. This will interface with the
GSSs to communicate with the satellite when ever it is visible by a GENSO ground station.
Finally the Authentication Servers (ASLs) will be controlled by the network administrator
providing mirror servers, authentication of commands and network security as well as
monitoring the status of the network.
The GSS and the drivers to operate the hardware of the system can be downloaded. User
preference can be set according to requirements and local laws and licenses. Any amateur
radio station can run the GSS. The MCC is then downloaded and installed in the mission
control centre and configured to suit the cubesat mission and laws and licenses. The
system is then logged into the GENSO network.
Whenever the local satellite is over the local station it will be tracked by the GSS. Other craft
will be tracked when the station is not being used locally. All scheduling of the ground
station is controlled automatically by the GSS, though manual control can be assumed at
any time. When the local space craft is tracked by GSS the MCC will establish a direct link
and stores the mission information in GSS database. This is the same for any GENSO
satellite that passes overhead. Telemetry and commands can be sent via the MCC to the
local satellite via any GSS worldwide. Once the satellite is over a GENSO ground station
the GSS will automatically track and link it to the local MCC. There will probably be a 10
minute delay in command and download.
The GENSO preliminary design review has been completed and the critical design phase is
in under way. Two flagship ground stations have been chosen for ESTEC and the
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International Space University, and there are over 50 interested institutions. The system is
intended to be opened to around 20 ground stations as development stations for Beta
testing and is planned to be operational for April 2009. More information can be found at
www.genso.org as part of the esa Education Office.
LARES
LARES stands for Laser Relativity Satellite and is a passive experiment with a mass of
400kg. The LARES is a dense 20cm radius sphere containing around 100 corner cube
reflectors and is designed to provide data on the frame dragging effect predicted by nonstatic general relativity. It can do this by reflecting targeted laser light from international laser
ranging stations, giving a highly accurate measurement of its position in orbit. The high
density is required for the ‘proof particle’ nature of the experiment. The data of LARES will
be combined with Lageos I from 1976 and Lageos II from 1996 to give insight to the nature
of Earth’s gravitational harmonics J2 and J4, as well as time delay and clock effect. This
data will be compared to gyroscope precession, which is another method of measuring
frame dragging and has been flown on Gravity Probe B in 2004.
Fig.4
A representation of frame dragging and proof particle laser reflecting satellites.
The Lense-Thirring (L-T) effect is the frame dragging of a proof particle (LARES) in the field
of a large body (Earth). The L-T effect causes movement of the node in the orbit of the proof
particle. This is mostly overshadowed by the J2 and J4 gravitational perturbation, that affect
the node 10000000 time more. The motion of Lageos due to the L-T effect was calculated to
be 2m drift per year. The effect on LARES will be around 4 meters. The effect of the J2
harmonic is 20km leaving an error in the known position of Lageos of 5m. This is not
enough to determine accurately the L-T effect and prove non-static general relativity. The
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Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
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combination of improving gravitation field models (such as EGM 96, EIGEN 02, EIGEN
GRACE S and EIGEN GRACE 02S) as well as the supplementary orbit of LARES will
eliminate all serious harmonic perturbations.
Ideally LARES would be launched into a 70 degrees inclination, 6000km circular orbit as
Lageos I was, however this is not possible. Nevertheless the combination of the LARES and
Lageos experiments will provide a measurement of frame dragging to an accuracy of 1%.
Kayser Threde
The Munich based company Kayser Threde have produced an alternative to flying trim
masses on the Arian 5. The coupling that the main payload stands on, or that separates 2
satellites on a multiple payload mission can be used to carry up to 200kg of auxiliary
payload. The initial concept of the KAP (Kayser Threde Auxiliary Payload carrier) is as an in
orbit test facility for technology demonstration and scientific instrumentation, as well as being
a ‘black box’ module for the launcher. The KAP is completely autonomous from the launcher
and provides power supply and conditioning, telemetry and data handling and the necessary
structure for the payload where necessary, although it does not separate from the upper
stage. Experiments can begin at lift off.
Fig.5
The KAP inter-spacer and possible positions within Arian 5.
There are presently 2 mission scenarios for short 3 hr and medium, 3-7 day, term
operations. The mission lifetime is limited by the orbital lifetime and battery life time,
although experiments can be replaced by additional batteries if necessary. As mentioned
the maximum payload capacity is 200kg, with a data rate of 5Mbps, a download capability of
10GB, a storage capacity of 2GB and an average power of 25W. The thermal temperature
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when attached to the KAP is designed to be passively maintained at -20 to +40 degrees
centigrade.
The KAP can incorporate either single or triple-cubesat launchers, with standard interfaces.
This will allow adjustable deployment velocities, low angular momentum following separation
and a confirmation of separation signal. Launch opportunities for the KAP do not yet exist
for Arian as new payloads offer unacceptable risk. However, the qualification test of Vega in
the VERTA programme in mid-2009 may offer opportunities, as will the esa purchased
launches of Soyuz-Fregat in late 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Future Technologies
Future Technologies presented at the conference include pulse plasma thrusters and water
thrusters. The plasma thrusters have been created by the University of Applied Sciences,
Southern Switzerland, as part of their ADCS programme.
Fig.6
The University of Applied Sciences pulse plasma thruster for micro-satellites.
The water thruster builds on Surrey’s experience with SNAP1 in 2001 that mounted a butane
cold gas thruster of 50mN thrust. This could create a total delta v of ~3.5m/s and was used
to automatically manoeuvre the satellite from 15000km to only 2000km away from the main
satellite it originally was released from, Tsinghua-1, in 7 months with 4 firings a day. The
water thruster has already been tested in space on the UK-DMC micro satellite, and is
intended to be miniaturised for Surry’s Palm sat. At present 8g of water can produce a 3m/s
delta v.
Surrey’s proposal for a cubesat mission involves 3 cubes with propulsion systems to
demonstrate formation flying at 10-20km distance. The system would be used to test micro
attitude control systems and micro propulsion systems, and possibly conduct satellite
inspection. Currently Surry are partnered with ATHENA-Space Programmes Unit and need
another partner for the 3rd cubesat.
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esa Education office presentation
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Fig.7
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Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
Francesco Emma, head of the esa Education Office.
The conference was organised and run by Francesco Emma, head of esa’s Education
Office. The primary aim of the Education Office is to ensure that esa has access to a
“qualified work force” in the future. The head office controls the Education Policy
Coordination Unit, the Hands-On Project Unit and ESAC Office, and is advised by ACE (the
Advisory Committee on Education), the EDSB (Education Strategy Board) and ISEB
(International Strategy Board).
The role of the Hands-On Projects office is to provide practical experience to students
including satellites, sounding balloons and rockets and ground network programmes. The
Policy Coordination Unit promotes public events and student conferences and parabolic
flights, produces educational material and is establishing a network of European Space
Education Resource Offices (ESERO). For the next couple of years the Education Office
plans to increase the number of hands-on projects by increasing links between universities
and industry. This, along with more ESERO establishments, will hopefully provide a network
of space orientated universities by supporting research activities. It is hoped that the
distribution of educational material will increase as will international links with institutions
outside of Europe. The overall budget for the Education Office is 5 million Euros, with 1.8
million for hands on projects.
Ongoing activities of the Education Office include the European Student Earth Orbiter
(ESEO), European Student Moon Orbiter (ESMO), Rocket and Balloon Student
Experiments, Stratospheric Platform Experiment, Student Parabolic Flight Campaign (SPFC)
and GENSO. ESEO is in the B1 phase of design and currently will have a greater mass
than 150kg, orbit in GTO designed to survive the harsh radiation environment, and will be
launched in 2010. The payload consists of outreach cameras and radiation and environment
sensors. ESMO is planned to launch in 2012 and has passed phase A. The lunar orbiter
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will carry outreach cameras and gravity mapping instrumentation. The mass of ESMO is
estimated at 230kg. In September 2008 there will be further calls for proposals for the
Swedish Space Agency and DLR supported sounding balloon and rocket campaigns.
GENSO will aim to provide a global satellite control network in cooperation with ISEB
members, while student parabolic flights will return though integrated with professional flights
rather than as purely a student programme.
The ESERO project should tailor education strategies to individual member states, linking in
with individual national education programmes. The presence of ESERO offices aims to
support local space projects and increase esa visibility in those countries. It is intended that
these institutions will work in cooperation with research establishments like CERN and the
European Southern Observatory etc. Currently there are 3 offices for ESERO, in the
Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, with a UK office planned for kick-off on February 2008.
The esa Education Office plans to continue its activities in the other directorates of Human
Spaceflight, Micro gravity and Exploration with SUCCESS, which utilises the ISS for student
experiments although it is not open to not contributing EU members. Along with this the
directorates of Earth Observation, Space Science and Human Resources have involvement
with the Education Office. Internships, fellowships and lectures are also esa Education
Office activities.
Cubesat Items of Interest
Technology
The Dresden team from Dresden University of Technology have introduced 2 interesting
items of technology, a heated thin film between batteries for active thermal control (similar to
the heating film about to be flown by Aachen), and new thin film GaAs solar cells on 1 face
of the cubesat, reducing the mass of the power supply unit. A heating film offers the
advantage over a wire that it does not induce a disruptive EM field. Dresden’s ADS
accuracy is estimated to be between 5 and 10 degrees using magnetometers and a sun
sensor.
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Fig.8
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
Aachen battery heating film.
Munich’s MOVE cubesat aims to address some of the limitation of pico-satellites, namely
power and thermal control. For the 1st cubesat of the MOVE programme (which is intended
as a generic satellite bus for other payloads) deployable solar cells are being tested. These
are sprung loaded and released using wire burn through. The cubesat’s antenna is a coiled
spring that automatically deploys when the solar cells do. The power gained from these
cells will be measured but not added to the electronic bus. An outreach camera will also be
flown, and the cubesat is 2 axes stabilised. They expect to achieve 180MHz processing rate
and store 64MB of data.
The Heidelsat cubsat also intends on using deployable solar cell, though using memory
metal that will unfold due to solar heating once in orbit. The joints are to be made of a metal
that will not return to their original folded position in eclipse.
The University Montpellier II team’s cubesat Robusta will validate the models predicting the
effect of radiation on electronics. The cubesat will fly 16 integrated circuits and expects a
100krad dose on the exposed sections. Should the orbit change the team are considering
flying a Rad FX payload, to study synergy effects, fly irradiated and pristine electronic chips
and study single event transient shapes.
The University of Liege cubesat will be the first satellite to test the D-Star communications
protocol, which has significant advantages over standard FM. It is intended that the cubesat
act as an un-stabilised communications satellite, with repeaters on the ground making
simultaneous digital voice and data communications using D-Star better than internet
communications. The satellite will have 3 frequencies and 2 data rates, notably an uplink of
145MHz and downlink of 435MHz, and is scheduled to be ready for launch in mid-2009.
Lastly the Warsaw team’s PW-Sat aims to develop a cheap and reliable system for deorbiting satellites, using solar radiation pressure or atmospheric drag. This involves
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deploying a memory material that expands to form a shape covered with Kapton film. The
completion date for this project is around 2010.
Fig.9
Artists impression of a Cubesat deployed de-orbiting device.
Science
Several cubesat designs included a science payload, including Dresden, Imperial Collage,
Budapest, Trieste, Lausanne, Copenhagen and Heidelberg. Dresden plan on flying a high
temperature (650 degrees) oxygen sensor called FIPEX which is current technology
untested in space.
The Romania team were planning on flying a 1mm particle detector,
though literature suggests that the number of impacts expected per meter squared per year
would be less than 10.
The Budapest, Imperial, Trieste, Lausanne and Heidelberg team all intend to fly space
weather and ionospheric instruments. The team from Budapest intend to conduct topside
ionospheric measurements using reflection and transparency of the atmosphere. This will
be done by measuring LW, MW and HF signals emitted from the ground, especially in the
range of 100kHz to 30MHz.
Imperial Collage intend on flying a high sensitivity magnetometer to measure the vector of
the magnetic field at LEO altitudes that are lower than full size space missions are safely
able to sample. They are developing 9 ~1g magneto-resistors for the satellite to investigate
reconnection effects on the LEO environment.
Trieste’s Atmocube will carry a silicon based radiation flux detector, magnetometers and a
GPS system for measuring atmospheric density. The radiation detector has been designed
to measure soft X-rays up to 70keV and protons. They are flying an HMC2003
magnetometer, which they state is accurate to 4 x 10-10 T. Their GPS system is accurate to
10m and so should give orbital decay data during the mission’s lifetime.
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The Swiss team from Lausanne will fly a specialist CMOS detector for limb imaging the
Auroral air glow that forms at 100km. It is hoped that this will validate current models
concerning latitude, solar time and altitude. The payload prototype has already been
manufactured. Heidelberg are also looking at particle interactions with our atmosphere. The
Heidelsat project will record radio pulses between 10MHz and 200MHz to detect the
synchrotron radiation from cosmic showers, which have been suggested as having some
effect on Earth’s environment. Heidelsat will require 3 deployable orthogonal antennas.
Copenhagen’s DTU-sat2 project follows from the unexplained loss of DTU-sat1, and aims to
track the migration of cuckoos from Denmark to Africa. The birds will be attached with a 5g,
868MHz O.2W transmitter that will be tracked using a 1.5m ‘unfolding tape reel’ receiver
separate from the upload and download antennae.
Launch Adapters
ISIS presented an overview of the available cubesat deployers and their advantages and
disadvantages. There are several purposes of a deployer. It must provide a standard
interface, protect the launch vehicle from the cubesats, release its contents with minimum
spin avoiding collision with other space craft and easily interface with a number of different
launchers. Standard launch adapters include P-POD. Several custom deployers also exist
such as the Japanese ADP-II for their Cute 1.7 cubesat, RocketPOD and the Delfi-C3
custom X-POD.
Fig.10 From left to right: P-POD, X-POD and SPL.
The Calpoly P-POD can take either 3 1-unit satellites or 1 1-unit and 1 2-unit cubesat and
was first flown in 2003. The latest P-POD design is the Mark III. The pod is made of
Aluminium 7075, has a sprung loaded pusher plate giving an exit speed of 1.6ms -1 and
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guide rails. There are 3 access holes for interfacing with the payloads once inside the pod.
The latest version of the P-POD uses a split spool device (NEA 9101B or StarSys Qwknut 3k
Pyrobolt) for the release mechanism.
The X-POD is made of Titanium or Magnesium and also has a spring pusher plate and guide
rails, with access holes to the payload. The ejection speed is slower at 1ms -1. The release
mechanism consists of a bolt with vectran chord and redundant melting wires. The pod has
sensors to detect the lid opening and another for satellite deployments.
The SPL (Single Picosat Launcher) was developed by Astro und Feinwerktechnik for 1-unit
cubesat only. The first launch of this system will be in spring 2008. It is also spring loaded
and made of aluminium with positioning pins supporting the satellite. There are access
holes on two sides and gives an ejection speed of 1ms-1. The release mechanism is
difference to the previous two with a permanent magnet holding closed the lid. A pyro-pulse
charge then overcomes the magnetic force. The opening of the lid is kept separate to the
activation of the pusher plate, and deployment sensors are included. No satellite rotation is
induced in this system.
Collaborating Teams
Two groups have shown an interest in flying the PLUME payload. These are the University
of Patras, and University of Rome in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Turin. Patras
intends to produce a light weight structure for future cubesat kits, as well as deployable solar
cells and internet links to the satellite for downloading camera photos. Their goal is to
reduce the mass of the basic cubesat structure from 150g to 70g and investigate the effect
of the space environment on the new materials. The solar cells are currently planned to be
spring driven with SMA locking release. The attitude control of the Patras cubesat is
intended to be Magnetorquers and a gravity boom, and is scheduled to be completed by
spring 2009.
The Rome Unicubesat uses passive attitude stabilisation and carries a GPS system. There
are considerations for using a similar bus as the end of a gravity boom deployed from the
next Rome Unisat for the purposes of imaging the ‘mother ship’ and testing the tether
method. The Unicubesat will include micro capacitive displacement sensors attached to the
solar cell covers that will measure the dynamic pressure of atmospheric drag, based on the
Broglio Drag Balance concept. The Rome space craft is part of the Twins Cubesat Satellite
project in cooperation with the Polytechnic of Turin.
The Twins Cubesat Satellites are E-st@r and E-sr@t, standing for educational satellite of
Turin and Rome, and Rome and Turin respectively. The two designs share many of the
same subsystem structures. Electronics for the communication subsystem are principally
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the responsibility of Rome, while Turin is developing both satellites’ structure and power
supply. The payload of the Turin cubesat will be a magnetorquer ACDS system and a test of
μ-fuel cells. The fuel cells can replace 1 of the 2 Lithium ion batteries, or the ADCS can be
removed so that 2 types of fuel cell can be launched and studied. The 2 fuel cells are Direct
Methanol FC, which has a mass of 60g, size of 50x50x40mm and produces 10mW, and
Hydrogen Fuel Cell that has a mass of 68g, has dimensions of 50x50x12mm, a voltage of
0.95V and produces 350mA. The two cubesats are scheduled to be ready for the 1st Vega
launch in December 2008.
Summary of Iterview
Attendees
Benoit Geffroy, Directorate of Launches
Francesco Emma, Head of the ESA Education
Professor Robert Twiggs, Space Systems Development Laboratory Stanford
University California
The remaining three of the panel were from the UK.
Questions Asked
Overview of satellite readiness
Interest in joining GENSO
Eagerness of team
Funding
Preferred deployment method
Ground station readiness and location
Time schedules
Science basis of payload
Who are PLUME collaborators
The interview seemed generally positive, although concern over funding and feasibility of the
payload were voiced.
Collaborations
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University of Leicester
PLUME
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
Collaborations with the Twin Satellite Project of Rome and Turin has been suggested, where
the Italian Unisat team would like to fly a version of the micro-meteoroid detector to be
delivered by September for integration and launch in December 2008 on the 1st Vega
launch.
Patras also have shown interest in flying the payload as they are principally an engineer
institution concerned with structure materials and have spare mass and power for a payload
in their design.
Aachen currently does not have any fixed proposals for their 2nd cubesat. The 1st cubesat
Compass-1 is ready for launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation on board a
PSLV-C9 in early March 2008. Compass-2 should be completed by late 2010.
Conference Outcome Summary
The conference was enjoyable, useful, and resulted in several collaborations as well as
providing key information on orbits definition and ground networks. Links have been made
with the cubesat and esa community and a position on the second Vega launch looks
promising.
Fig.11 Conference centre and participants.
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University of Leicester
PLUME
Ref: PLM-MISC- EsaConference-906-1
Date: 30/01/2008
Important Contact Details
Rome
GAUSS University of Rome 00390644585334
Chantal Cappelletti
Fabrizio Paolillo
Chantal.cappelletti@gmail.com
pfabrizio@fastwebnet.it
Patras
Antonios Vavouliotis
vavoul@mech.upatras.gr
Athanasios Baltopoulos
abaltopoulos@gmail.com
Other
Education Office
Francesco.emma@esa.int
www.esa.int/education
Kayser Threde
www.kayser-threde.com/KAP
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