Establishing thriving university-level space education

Recent analyses of the UK National Space Strategy [1], Space Sector Skills Survey [2] and The 2020 Space Census [3], have investigated and highlighted many of the established strengths and weaknesses of the current UK Space Sector and the role of training and educational programs supporting it. Furthermore, there is additional research into what self-reported roadblocks early career students and workers (and employers) consider important in this journey [4]. Academia, employers, schools, colleges, and museums all have considerable roles to play in shaping the future science capital of our populace and establishing people on the tech workforce pipeline. Rising to meet this challenge, The University of Nottingham wants to develop the UK's space workforce and is proud to have begun its first dedicated aerospace undergraduate course in 2016. In addition to the core lecture modules, added project experience is available in the form of group and individual supervised projects. These practical activities are a rare opportunity to learn unique space skills and work hands-on with spacecraft technology, something in short supply in the UK at the undergraduate level [2]. The practical, hands-on components are an important part of the space education programme and involve different platforms and projects going from simple electronics workshops to CanSats, FlatSats and experimental Rockets. These activities culminate in the CubeSat Program: a student-led group of projects to develop, build and fly CubeSat missions with a variety of payloads. The students have the possibility to present their own mission idea or join existing ones of interest to the research community. To support these high-fidelity opportunities for students and early career workers, a permanent on-site COTS Ground Station will serve as a control center for all these student-built satellite missions. To help with the establishment of this facility, The University of Nottingham has been cooperating with the local amateur radio community to train and license the student team. This paper deals with the description of the different projects and presents the University’s point of view about the strengths and weaknesses of our Space educational programm

Results of the attitude reconstruction for the UniSat-6 microsatellite using in-orbit data

UniSat-6 is a civilian microsatellite that was launched in orbit on the 19th of June, 2014. Its main mission consisted in the in-orbit release of a number of on-board carried Cubesats and in the transmission to the UniSat-6 ground station of telemetry data and images from an on-board mounted camera. The spacecraft is equipped with a passive magnetic attitude control system. Gyros and magnetometers provide the information about the attitude of the spacecraft. The importance of reconstructing the attitude motion of UniSat-6 lies in the dual possibility, for future missions, of:controlling the direction of ejection of the on-board carried satelliteshaving an accurate pointing for remote sensing operation.The reconstruction of the attitude motion of UniSat-6 is based on the data of the on-board Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) gyros and magnetometers, downloaded at the passages over the ground station in Roma, Italy. At ground, these data have been processed with the UnScented QUaternion Estimator (USQUE) algorithm. This estimator is an adaptation of the Unscented Filter to the problem of spacecraft attitude estimation. The USQUE is based on a dual attitude representation, which involves both quaternions and Generalized Rodrigues Parameters. In this work, the propagation phase of the algorithm contains only a kinematic model of the motion of the spacecraft. This paper presents the results of the reconstruction of the UniSat-6 attitude using on-board measurements. The results show that the spacecraft effectively stabilized its attitude motion thanks to the on-board magnetic devices

CubeSat constellations for disaster management in remote areas

In recent years, CubeSats have considerably extended their range of possible applications, from a low cost means to train students and young researchers in space related activities up to possible complementary solutions to larger missions. Increasingly popular, whereas CubeSats are still not a solution for all types of missions, they offer the possibility of performing ambitious scientific experiments. Especially worth considering is the possibility of performing Distributed Space Missions, in which CubeSat systems can be used to increase observation sampling rates and resolutions, as well as to perform tasks that a single satellite is unable to handle. The cost of access to space for traditional Earth Observation (EO) missions is still quite high. Efficient architecture design would allow reducing mission costs by employing CubeSat systems, while maintaining a level of performance that, for some applications, could be close to that provided by larger platforms, and decreasing the time needed to design and deploy a fully functional constellation. For these reasons many countries, including developing nations, agencies and organizations are looking to CubeSat platforms to access space cheaply with, potentially, tens of remote sensing satellites. During disaster management, real-time, fast and continuous information broadcast is a fundamental requirement. In this sense, a constellation of small satellites can considerably decrease the revisit time (defined as the time elapsed between two consecutive observations of the same point on Earth by a satellite) over remote areas, by increasing the number of spacecraft properly distributed in orbit. This allows collecting as much data as possible for the use by Disaster Management Centers. This paper describes the characteristics of a constellation of CubeSats built to enable access over the most remote regions of Brazil, supporting an integrated system for mitigating environmental disasters in an attempt to prevent the catastrophic effects of natural events such as heavy rains that cause flooding. In particular, the paper defines the number of CubeSats and the orbital planes required to minimize the revisit time, depending on the application that is the mission objective. Each CubeSat is equipped with the suitable payloads and possesses the autonomy and pointing capabilities needed to meet the mission requirements. Thanks to the orbital features of the constellation, this service could be exploited by other tropical countries. Coverage of other areas of the Earth might be provided by adjusting the number and in-orbit distribution of the spacecraft

TuPOD, a Cube Satellite (CubeSat) and Tube Satellite Dispenser Produced via 3D Printing, Successful Launch, Orbit and Dispensing of Two Tube Satellites

The JAXA spacecraft “KOUNOTORI-6” was launched on December 9th , 2016 on a mission to resupply the International Spaces Station. It carried the TuPOD system developed by Tetonsys, Gauss, Moorehead State, Open Space Networks and CRP USA. This unique Small Satellite was designed as both a CubeSat and as a dispensing system for two Tube Satellites. The team took advantage of 3D Printing and leveraged this technology in designing for the application. A discussion of challenges related to making this mission successful, the advantages and challenges of using 3D Printing, (specifically Windform XT 2.0) and the TuPODs cargo and an update on their status. The Tu-Pod was deployed from the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” on Jan 16th, 2016. On January 19th 2017, approx 23:30 UTC, the TuPOD successfully dispensed the two Tube Satellites TANCREDO I(Produced by Brazilian Middle School Students) and OSNSAT (from Open Space Network, a Californian space company.) This mission marks a new milestone in the small satellite arena: it is the first time that two TubeSats are deployed in Space, using the specifically designed TuPOD that functions as both a satellite and release platform

Helmholtz cage design and validation for nanosatellites HWIL testing

This paper deals with the design, realization and testing of an Earth magnetic field simulator, that allows to validate hardware in the loop algorithms, as well as to test new actuators. The design is driven by typical small satellites functional requirements. The subsystems that compose the simulator are described in detail. The validation of the simulator is performed by assessing its functioning, the uniformity of the recreated magnetic field and the functionality of a magnetorquer

Methodology for optimizing a Constellation of a Lunar Global Navigation System with a multi-objective optimization algorithm

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are not only used in terrestrial applications, but also in Low-Earth orbit satellites and in higher altitude missions. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has demonstrated the capabilities of existing GNSS systems to provide positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services in the Cis-lunar space.The resurgence in plans by national space agencies for Lunar exploration presents a need for accurate, precise, and reliable navigation systems to ensure the safety and success of future missions.Moreover, the increased amount of Moon missions over recent years, shows the requirement of navigation capabilities for Low Lunar orbiters, Moon landers, Moon rovers, and manned missions.The success of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) on Earth, presents an opportunity for the study of a potential design requirements and expected performance of a Lunar GNSS constellation.We have approached this problem through the methodology of multi-objective optimization; numerically simulating the orbits, and using the Position Delution of Precision (PDoP) as the figure of merit to optimise a set of 200 constellation designs and improving them gradually over 1864 generations. Over 12,000 unique constellation designs were generated with the best 10 constellations presented in this paper for consideration and further study. Compared to the literature, these 10 constellations achieved a 44% improvement in PDoP (2.73) using the same number of satellites in each constellation, and meeting the performance requirements of planned Lunar missions

Altitude control of a remote-sensing balloon platform

This paper addresses the problem of altitude control of stratospheric balloon platforms. Over the last years, there has been an increasing interest in the development of balloon platforms with the ability of maneuvering and fluctuating at the stratosphere for different applications on the basis of remote-sensing. Considering the current trend of a high connected world with sensor grids spread in wide geographical areas, the interest in balloon platform applications has increased posing new challenges for future applications. One of the major problems encountered in this context is how to guarantee constant altitude sustainability. Although the technologies required to address this problem already exist, low cost and easy to launch solutions are still needed considering applications on a wide scale. In this work, a theoretical model of the balloon dynamic is presented and validated. A valve control loop mechanism is proposed for rubber balloons. The controller is tuned empirically and numerical simulations conducted for performance analysis and a case study in a real mission. The proposed solution contributes to increase the capacity of rubber balloons by proposing an altitude control system that allows fluctuation stages which, in general, are not common with this type of balloon

Methodology for CubeSat Debris Collision Avoidance Based on Its Active ADCS System

This research assesses the feasibility of a collision avoidance methodology for CubeSats lacking propulsion. The approach involves altering the satellite’s orientation to modify its cross-sectional area and, subsequently, the drag force. Examining altitudes within low Earth orbit (LEO) across 2U, 3U, and 6U CubeSat formats, maneuvers are considered two days before the Time to Closest Approach (TCA). Evaluation against the Conjunction Data Messages (CDMs) threshold miss distances reveals a minimum 7% and maximum 106% deviation in Vertical Distance Difference (VDD), and 68% to 1045% in Horizontal Distance Difference (HDD) concerning the notification threshold. These findings strongly endorse the practicality of the proposed collision avoidance methodology, utilizing CubeSat Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS). Ongoing research focuses on assessing ADCS maneuver execution rates and implementation times, advancing our understanding and applicability of this innovative CubeSat collision avoidance approach

Design Analysis of a New On-Board Computer for the LAICAnSat Platform

The present work describes the new requirements for LAICAnSat project, a high altitude platform (HAP) developed at University of Brasilia (UnB). An analysis of previous missions and a detailed comparison with respect to the previous OBC version is presented to assist with the design decision making. More specifically, a study of mission lifecycle is conducted to evaluate power consumption and a survey is carried out in order to estimate new power demands