Binar Space Program: Binar-1 Results and Lessons Learned

The Binar Space Program is a recently formed space research and education group part of the Space Science and Technology Center at Curtin University in Western Australia. Recently launching the first CubeSat from the state, Binar-1, the team is making steps towards creating a sustainable mission schedule for research and education. The Binar-1 mission primary objective was to demonstrate the custom designed systems made by PhD students and engineers at the university. The main technology being demonstrated was the integrated Binar CubeSat Core, which compacted the Electrical Power System, Attitude Determination and Control System, and flight computer system into 0.25U. Alongside this, the team also aimed to learn about end-to-end spacecraft mission design and engage with the public to build an understanding of the importance of space industry and research in the country. Binar-1 was deployed from the International Space Station on the 6th of October 2021, and initially was silent for 15 days until the Binar team was able to make contact by enabling a secondary beacon. This paper will present the Binar-1 mission including the custom design, operations, failure analysis, and results before finally summarizing the lessons learned by the team while flying Western Australia’s first space capability

Binar Space Program: Mission Two Payloads and Operations Plan

The second mission of Western Australia’s Binar Space Program consists of three 1U CubeSats targeting a 2023 launch. Aiming to improve the platform for future missions, the primary purpose of Binar 2, 3 and 4 is on-orbit testing of radiation shielding alloys developed by CSIRO. In this first-of-its-kind experiment, all three simultaneously deployed Binar spacecraft will contain radiation sensing payloads to assess the efficacy of various compositions of Australian made radiation shielding alloys. Alongside this, hardware changes to the Binar platform are discussed, including deployable solar arrays, additional communications solutions, and a removable payload bay. The Iridium network will be leveraged to test its suitability for CubeSat targeted re-entry. Several software-based payloads are implemented, including on-board hardware emulation, enabling an industry partner to control the spacecraft in a demonstration of remote operations capability. An undergraduate student lead project will continue on from Binar-1 to see a star tracker flown for testing alternative methods of attitude determination. From a community perspective, strengthening the engagement between amateur radio operators and the Binar Space Program will be explored by expanding on what amateurs can do with on-orbit satellites. Lastly, autonomous agile mission planning will be tested through an on-board multipurpose simulation running on the dual-core flight computer

Binar Space Program: Mission 2 Update

The Binar Space Program\u27s (BSP) second mission consists of three 1U CubeSats scheduled for launch in August of 2024. Following the partial success of the BSP\u27s first mission, Binar-1, many technological improvements have been made to the Binar 1U platform. These improvements enable Binar 2, 3, and 4 to carry 0.5U of payload, which is being used by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organization (CSIRO) to test two new radiation shielding materials developed in Australia. In addition to the primary payload, each CubeSat will fly three different communication systems, new deployable solar arrays and carry operating software that will allow the amateur radio community to play capture the satellite with any of the three CubeSats. The use of three almost identical satellites allows for comparing the performance of the two radiation shielding materials against a control. One CubeSat will be flying the payload with regular aluminium shielding, and the remaining two will have different aluminium metal matrix composites made using a friction-stir additive manufacturing method. The materials are intended to be used as a lightweight alternative to standard space-grade aluminium with a higher resistance to the space radiation environment. The mission is the first test of the materials in orbit, demonstrating the suitability of the manufacturing method for space flight. The three communication systems on board include an industry-led S-band transmitter designed and built in Western Australia, a new UHF transceiver developed in-house, and an Iridium 9603 modem for reduced latency communications and higher platform reliability. The novel deployable solar arrays being flown on Binar-2, 3, and 4 were designed using a rigid-flex PCB as the structure and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) strips as deployment actuators. The panels greatly increase the power available from the Binar CubeSat platform, enabling the increased payload space to be used more effectively for space research and technology development. Part of this additional available power is being used for the capture the satellite game that will be hosted on the three Binar CubeSats. More frequent transmissions will allow radio amateurs to locate the CubeSats more easily and program their callsign into the CubeSat beacon, capturing the satellite. Additionally, this mission aims to demonstrate several capabilities crucial to the success of future missions. Attitude determination and control using the onboard magnetometers and megnetorquers has been developed to aid directional communication and is required for sensing, imaging, and propulsion on larger missions. Due to the suspected thermal management issues on Binar-1, thermal modelling is considered a key capability for the success of future missions. Predictions derived from a simplified thermal model will be verified on orbit. The complete development of Binar-2, 3, and 4 was scheduled to take two years following the launch of Binar-1. However, due to chip shortages and knowledge loss due to the departure of engineers and graduating students, the launch was moved to 2024. This additional time was used to perform more robust testing and develop better documentation, enabling better management of the challenges experienced on future launches. Many more lessons have been learnt through the mission lifecycle which the Binar Space Program now plans to take forward into the development of a 12U CubeSat platform

Dynamic Visuomotor Transformation Involved with Remote Flying of a Plane Utilizes the ‘Mirror Neuron’ System

Brain regions involved with processing dynamic visuomotor representational transformation are investigated using fMRI. The perceptual-motor task involved flying (or observing) a plane through a simulated Red Bull Air Race course in first person and third person chase perspective. The third person perspective is akin to remote operation of a vehicle. The ability for humans to remotely operate vehicles likely has its roots in neural processes related to imitation in which visuomotor transformation is necessary to interpret the action goals in an egocentric manner suitable for execution. In this experiment for 3rd person perspective the visuomotor transformation is dynamically changing in accordance to the orientation of the plane. It was predicted that 3rd person remote flying, over 1st, would utilize brain regions composing the ‘Mirror Neuron’ system that is thought to be intimately involved with imitation for both execution and observation tasks. Consistent with this prediction differential brain activity was present for 3rd person over 1st person perspectives for both execution and observation tasks in left ventral premotor cortex, right dorsal premotor cortex, and inferior parietal lobule bilaterally (Mirror Neuron System) (Behaviorally: 1st>3rd). These regions additionally showed greater activity for flying (execution) over watching (observation) conditions. Even though visual and motor aspects of the tasks were controlled for, differential activity was also found in brain regions involved with tool use, motion perception, and body perspective including left cerebellum, temporo-occipital regions, lateral occipital cortex, medial temporal region, and extrastriate body area. This experiment successfully demonstrates that a complex perceptual motor real-world task can be utilized to investigate visuomotor processing. This approach (Aviation Cerebral Experimental Sciences ACES) focusing on direct application to lab and field is in contrast to standard methodology in which tasks and conditions are reduced to their simplest forms that are remote from daily life experience