RAFT Radar Fence Transponder
RAFT
Radar Fence Transponder
Mission Completion Review 6 May 08
Bob Bruninga, CDR USN (ret)
MIDN 1/C David Koeppel
MIDN 1/C Brent Kolb
MIDN 1/C Jeff Robeson
MIDN 1/C Kyle Vandegriff
May 2008
Key Milestones: Schedule
RAFT Kickoff
RAFT USNA SRR
RAFT PDR
RAFT Phase 0/1 Safety
RAFT Phase 2 Safety
RAFT CDR
• RAFT Flight Unit Testing
• RAFT Phase 3 Safety
RAFT Delivery/Install
RAFT Flight (STS-116)
De-Orbit
Apr 04
Sep 04
19 Nov 04
16 Dec 04
10 Feb 05
23 Feb 05
26 Jan 05
22 Feb 06
July 06
Dec 06
30 May 07
RAFT Mission Summary 2
Mission: So Many CUBEsats
30 to 50 in Construction
How to Track ???
AIAA/USU
Small Sat
Conference
30% of papers were for PICO,
NANO and
CUBEsats
All smaller than 10 cm
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 3
Mission Statement
To provide the Navy Space Surveillance (NSSS) radar fence with a means to determine the bounds of a constellation of PicoSats otherwise undetectable by the radar fence
To enable NSSS to independently calibrate their transmit and receive beams using signals from RAFT.
This must be accomplished with two PicoSats , one that will actively transmit and receive, and one with a passively augmented radar cross-section.
Additionally, RAFT will provide experimental communications transponders for the Navy Military Affiliate Radio System, the United States Naval
Academy’s Yard Patrol crafts, and the Amateur Satellite Service.
RAFT1 Education for 16 Astronautics Majors Senior projects
Robeson, Paquette (06) - Orloff, Kinzbrunner, and Rose(05) - Baker, Tuttle,
Colvin (04) Abbott, Atwater, Brandt, Hansen, McLean(03 ). And 3 in (02)
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 4
NSSS Radar Fence
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 5
NSS Radar Fan beam (E/W)
Horizon to Horizon down only -6 dB
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 6
NSS Fan Beam N/S
Only 0.8 degrees North/South
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 7
-12 dBm at 1000 km
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 8
XP-217 Radar Fence
Transpopnder
Design a very small receiver for the
NSSS Radar suitable for a cubesat
Include an Oscillator for NSSS to hear us.
May 2008
Northeastern University
GSI Lumonics
RAFT Mission Summary 9
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 10
RAFT1 Mission Architecture
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 11
RAFT Block Diagram
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 12
Fail-Safe Reset Timer
Cold boots CPU if no TLM every minute
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 13
Simplified Power System
May 2008
60 mA
100 mA
100 mA
Charge in Parallel and TX in series
Charge in
Parallel
RAFT Mission Summary
Transmit in
Series
Duty cycle
4%
14
RAFT1 Network Architecture
May 2008
Global Volunteer Ground Station
Network
Internet Linked for live Telemetry
RAFT Mission Summary 15
RAFT1 Mission Architecture
May 2008
APRS Global Packet Radio Network
Internet Linked for live Communications
RAFT Mission Summary 16
SCIENCE
USNA-0203
Space User Baseline
See www.ariss.net
PCSAT validates our links
APRS Satellite User Plot 18 Apr 06
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary
Vandegriff
17
May 2008
Military Affiliate Radio
System
The Mission of the MARS system is to:
Provide auxiliary communications for military , federal and local disaster management officials
Assist in effecting communications under emergency conditions .
Handle morale and quasi-official communications traffic for members of the Armed Forces and authorized U.S. Government civilian personnel
Provide routine operations in support of MARSGRAMS and … contacts between service personnel and their families back home home.
RAFT Mission Summary 18
MARScom Mission Architecture
Military Affiliate Radio
System
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 19
Yard Patrol Craft Application
Unique UHF AM Uplink and HF SSB downlink
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 20
MARScom Block Diagram
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 21
RAFT1 and
MARScom
5” Cubes
3 Antennas
Each
Identical
Mechanical
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 22
RAFT1 and
MARScom
May 2008
5” Cubes
3 Antennas
Each
Identical
Mechanical
RAFT Mission Summary 23
RAFT
Deployment
Velocity of pair:
1.8 m/s
Velocity of RAFT:
2.6 m/s
Velocity of MARScom:
1.2 m/s
Was 1.5, 1.3 & 1.8
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 24
Flight Model Separation Test
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 25
Mechanical Design
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 26
Raft1 Electronics Systems
May 2008
TNC Interface Brd
RAFT Mission Summary 27
Raft1 Electronics Systems
May 2008
Transmitter Receiver and XP-217
RAFT Mission Summary 28
RAFT1
Internal
Diagram
Top
View
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary
Ant pocket
& Sep SW
29
MARS Panels and Boards
RCVR
May 2008
Batteries and TX-Interface board
TNC
RAFT Mission Summary 30
Inside View
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 31
Assembly Plan
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 32
Windup port
May 2008
GSE Side Panel
COTS Silicon Cells on PCB panel
Covered with Clear
Teflon Coating
1.5 Watt panel
GSE port
RAFT Mission Summary
Mechanically rugged for rain/hail/birds
PCsat Flight
Heritage
33
May 2008
Top Panel
VHF Antenna holes
HF whip hole
RAFT Mission Summary
Pockets for other satellite antennas and Sep Switch
34
Ballast for
RAFT1
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 35
RAFT1
Lead Ballast
Encapsulated in
Kapton tape
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 36
RAFT Lifetime Estimate
2.5 Mo
6.5 Months
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 37
Aerospace 5510 RAFT Launcher
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 38
RAFT
Antenna
Separation
Mechanisms
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 39
RAFT Antenna Springs
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 40
RAFT Antenna Springs
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 41
Long-Wire Antenna
May 2008
~2.5”
RAFT Mission Summary 42
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 43
ANDE/RAFT - USNA
Pre-Launch Intgration and Prep
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 44
RAFT microgravity
Separation Test
March 30 th – April 8 th
(“Test of Opportunity”)
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary
Test 5” cubesat separation system
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary
Good Initial Deployment
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 47
What happened?
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 48
Sequence
We suspect a stuck antenna.
Maybe one of the four antennas, after being compressed in the pre-launch configuration for maybe 6 months prior to launch against the bottom of the antenna sleeve, may have embedded itself into the Scotch 2216
Epoxy.
At the instant of final separation, that momentary impulse for the “stuck antenna tip to release” imparted torques on the spacecraft.
Marscom ended up at almost
80 RPM and RAFT at about 40
RPM
… Play Video …
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 49
Initial Tip-Off rate 80 RPM?
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 50
Magnetic Stabilization
Vertical
North/South
Horizontal
East/West
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 51
Ops Normal Telemetry
This image shows 7.3 Volt Bus
A cool .2 C temperature
No solar current (during eclipse)
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 52
COTS Solar Panel Performance
•
Very Low Cost $20 Solar Panels (PCsat Heritage)
•
Cost 2% of triple junction.
•
Provide 50% of the performance
• Degrade twice as fast (50% of life)
•
26 attitude configurations for cube satellite
6 for one side (power factor of 1)
12 for one edge (power factor of 1.4)
8 for on corner (power factor of 1.7)
• AVERAGE POWER FACTOR for CUBESAT:
(assume equal opportunity rotation): 1.4
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 53
Solar Panel Performance
Electrical Current on Raft
125
100
75
50
25
0
0
325
300
275
250
225
200
175
150
20 40
• CONCLUSION: 10 to 25% added current from albedo
60 80
Time(sec)
100 120 140 160
Maximum Expect ed Current
(1.7)
Average Current of Cubic sat ellit e (raft ) on orbit
Average Current Expect ed
(1.4)
Specified Current P er
P anel On Orbit (1.0)
Current
(3/12/2007)
Current
(3/26/2007)
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 54
Solar Panel Life
7% per year on PCSAT
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 55
Thermal Performance
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 56
RAFT 4 mW Osc Detection
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 57
Raft Oscillator detection
DK3WN commanding
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 58
Radar Fence Doppler Plot
PE1ITR data
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 59
Difficulty of RADAR Ops from USNA
Link budget required 10 degree elevation
This limited range to USNA
There was no mutual vissibility of NSSS Fence and USNA
We were dependent on volunteer ground stations for data
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 60
UC – Irvine Detection
Low Horizon pass for Fence
Low horizon pass for UC-Irvine
3 days before re-entry!
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 61
SPASUR Fence Detection
RAFT designed to detect the Fence
Report radar Doppler and fence crossing to ground
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 62
5
0
-5
0
-10
-15
20
15
10
-10
-15
-20
10
5
0
-5 0
35
30
25
20
15 marscom
SPASUR Tracking Data on MARScom (augmented for 217 MHz)
1.2 RMS
100 200 300 400 500 600
50% Improvement with
Marscom Passive
Augmentation
SPASUR Tracking Data on RAFT (not augmented)
100
RMS 2.5
200 300 400 500 600
RAFT Mission Summary
700 radial
In track
Cross track
700 radial
In track
Cross Track
63
SCIENCE
USNA-0203
See www.ariss.net
PCSAT validates our links
APRS Satellite User Plot 18 Apr 06
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary
Vandegriff
64
RAFT User Operations
Joint Operations with ARISS,PCSAT-1 1-19 Jan
Conjunctions with ANDE
10 Feb
7 Mar
26 Mar
11 Apr
25 Apr
5 May
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 65
RAFT Synergy with Other
Universities
USA Schools
• Auburn, Colorado, Cornell, Dartmouth
• DelMarVa, Florida, Hawaii, UC-Irvine
• Louisiana, Minnessota, MIT, Montana
• NotreDame, NoVa-HS, NPGS
• Princeton, U-Michigan, USAFA, USCGA
Other Schools
• S.Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal
• UK, Guam, Italy, Japan, Australia, NZ
• Mongolia, Moscow, Indonesia, Thailand
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 66
RAFT Synergy with
Amateur Satellite Service
Volunteer Antenna Modelers
Volunteer Ground stations
• Oregon, Calif, Hawaii, London, Germany
• Japan, Australia, New Zealand
• South Africa, Antarctica
Volunteer Command Stations
Volunteer re-entry tracking
Volunteer Science downlink stations
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 67
Our Satellites provide a low cost educational transponder supporting not only GPS position reporting but also remote WX stations and other data link experiments and other University and School Experiments.
The comm channels can potentially draw from over 30,000 experimenters for easy assessment of loading and scaling issues.
Not only the sensors and users exist, but the global Internet collection and distribution system also exists from PCSAT1 & 2, ANDE and RAFT.
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 68
RAFT
Groundstations
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 69
RAFT Presentations/Papers
AIAA/USU Small Sat Conf
(alternate)
AMSAT Symposium 2004,5,6,7
AMSAT-DC annual meetings
USNA Satellite Labs
• Comm Labs
• Comm labs
• Tracking labs
• Operations Labs
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 70
De-Orbit Telemetry
De-orbit Telemetry Award
For collecting Telemetry and data
We actually did not get the Award prepared until it was time for ANDE
Deorbit, but it was mostly all of the same stations… http://www.ande-deorbit.com
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 71
Questions?
May 2008 RAFT Mission Summary 72
ICSat (USNA-0201)
Objectives
Educate First Class Midshipmen in the Astronautics curriculum of the Aerospace
Engineering major in spacecraft design, systems engineering, program management techniques, cost, scheduling, flight certification and safety procedures, and spacecraft testing.
Move data via RF Link using TCP/IP and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)
RAFT Mission Summary
ICSat Block Diagram
TX antenna 1
+12V
50ma
+5V
300ma
+5V
120ma
+5V
650ma
+5V
140ma
Power
Amplifier
2202.26
MHz
Splitter
Power
Amplifier
Mini-Circuits
ZFRSC-42
-6.5db per port
TX antenna 2 Miteq
AMF-3B-020040-20-30P
2-4GHz, 35db Gain, +30dbm max out
Low Noise
Amplifier
Mini-Circuits
ZJL-3G
0.2-3GHz,
14-19db Gain
RX antenna 1
Low Noise
Amplifier
RX antenna 2
Transmitter
ComBlock
4001
-8dbm max
D/A
Converter
ComBlock
2001
Control and Data to/from Computer
1767.00
MHz
Combiner
Low Noise
Amplifier Mini-Circuits
ZFSC-2-2500
Miteq
AMF-4F-01000200-12-10P
1-2GHz, 60db Gain, 1.2db NF
.01-2.5GHz
(+3-1.5db) gain
Receiver
ComBlock
3003-A
Modulator
ComBlock
1002
Demodulator
ComBlock
1001
Signal/Power
Conditioning
ComBlock
5101
+15V
950ma each
+15V
230ma each
+5V
250ma
RAFT Mission Summary
+5V
300ma
Inside ICSat Enclosure
Outside ICSat Enclosure
Other Locations
ICSat (USNA-0201)
Results
Educate First Class Midshipmen:
--This objective was fully achieved. Ten Midshipmen in five graduating classes and three majors worked on the ICSat experiment directly; an additional 46 worked on the development of the MidSTAR-1 satellite and were required to take the interface requirements of the experiment into consideration in completing their design activities.
Move data via RF Link using TCP/IP and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)
-- This objective was not achieved. The experiment failed during integration with insufficient time remaining to troubleshoot and repair before launch. The experiment was flown "as is." No attempt has been made to activate it on orbit.
RAFT Mission Summary
