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

Thoracic Epidural Abscesses: A Systematic Review.

Study Design: Systematic review. Objectives: Past research has demonstrated increased speed and severity of progression for spinal epidural abscesses (SEAs) of the thoracic level, specifically, when compared with SEAs of other spinal cord levels. Untreated, this infection can result in permanent neurological sequelae with eventual progression to death if inadequately managed. Despite the seriousness of this disease, no articles have focused on the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of SEAs of the thoracic level. For this reason, specific focus on SEAs of the thoracic level occurred when researchers designed and implemented the following systematic review. Methods: A query of Ovid-Medline and EMBASE, Cochrane Central, and additional review sources was conducted. Search criteria focused on articles specific to thoracic epidural abscesses. Results: Twenty-five articles met inclusion criteria. The most commonly reported symptoms present on admission included back pain, paraparesis/paraplegia, fever, and loss of bowel/bladder control. Significant risk factors included diabetes, intravenous drug use, and advanced age ( Conclusions: For the first time researchers have focused specifically on SEAs of the thoracic level, as opposed to previously published general analysis of SEAs as a whole. Based on the results, investigators recommend early magnetic resonance imaging of the spine, laboratory workup (sedimentation rate/C-reactive protein, complete blood count), abscess culture followed by empiric antibiotics, and immediate surgical decompression when neurological deficits are present

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

Recreating the OSIRIS-REx Slingshot Manoeuvre from a Network of Ground-Based Sensors

Optical tracking systems typically trade-off between astrometric precision and field-of-view. In this work, we showcase a networked approach to optical tracking using very wide field-of-view imagers that have relatively low astrometric precision on the scheduled OSIRIS-REx slingshot manoeuvre around Earth on September 22nd, 2017. As part of a trajectory designed to get OSIRIS-REx to NEO 101955 Bennu, this flyby event was viewed from 13 remote sensors spread across Australia and New Zealand to promote triangulatable observations. Each observatory in this portable network was constructed to be as lightweight and portable as possible, with hardware based off the successful design of the Desert Fireball Network. Over a 4 hour collection window, we gathered 15,439 images of the night sky in the predicted direction of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Using a specially developed streak detection and orbit determination data pipeline, we detected 2,090 line-of-sight observations. Our fitted orbit was determined to be within about 10~km of orbital telemetry along the observed 109,262~km length of OSIRIS-REx trajectory, and thus demonstrating the impressive capability of a networked approach to SSA