Data Sharing in Satellite Systems: Review of the Past and Opportunities in the Age of Large LEO Constellations

Since 1957, more than 14,000 satellites have been launched into space; 2022 marks a record year with the launch of 2,163 satellites [1]. The increased number of satellites in combination with technological advancements in satellite communications has enabled operators to collect vast amounts of science data and satellite telemetry. These large data sets can be utilized to ensure coexistence between the ever-increasing number of satellite systems, potentially reducing both the risk of harmful interference and in-orbit collisions. Additionally, they can act as decentralized information sources, improving our understanding of the space environment and increasing the reliability of satellites. Modern data sharing practices for space mission data can be categorized into either post-mission or real-time analysis. Post-mission analysis can lead to detecting anomalies that occurred during a mission by correlating data points from individual or different satellites. In contrast, real-time data sharing can also help avoid harmful communication interference events and in-orbit collisions. This paper provides a review of data collection and sharing practices across three types of satellite systems: university smallsat missions, federal government missions, and private sector/commercial missions. In this review and synthesis, the utility of those datasets is identified along with challenges associated with moving towards standard structures and stakeholder sharing practices

UHF Ground Station for Satellite Communications: The Design, Build, Test, and Lessons Learned

The Olin Satellite + Spectrum Technology and Policy (OSSTP) Group was founded at Olin College of Engineering to explore real-world, project-based learning with apprenticeship-styled educational experiences in satellite communications. In 2019, OSSTP was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Cubesat Ideas Lab Grant for the Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) mission in collaboration with five other institutions (CU Boulder, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Western Michigan, and University of Southern Alabama) to develop and launch three CubeSats. This mission aims to serve as a pathfinder demonstration of swarm operations at separation distances of 1-1000 km using differential drag and onboard propulsion. SWARM-Ex will also showcase key technologies and address scientific questions related to the evolution of equatorial ionization (EIA) and equatorial thermospheric anomaly (ETA by including a FIPEX neutral Oxygen sensor and a Langmuir Probe1. As part of the SWARM-Ex project, a team of Olin undergraduates, along with Prof. Lohmeyer, have designed, built, and tested an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Ground Station to support small satellite telemetry and command operations between 435 - 470 MHz. This station will first serve as an integral component of the SWARM-Ex communications network, enabling students to assist with downlinking science data for the mission and uplinking control sequences. The station will support small satellite missions of different universities and interference research in the future. This paper documents the overall design, including a breakdown of the transmit and receive chains and the tracking mechanisms, interfaces, testing, and lessons learned. The goal of this paper is to document the build of the Olin ground station to aid in the buildout of other university ground stations

Coordinating Development of the SWARM-EX CubeSat Swarm Across Multiple Institutions

The Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored CubeSat mission distributed across six colleges and universities in the United States. The project has three primary goals: (1) contributing to aeronomy and space weather knowledge, (2) demonstrating novel engineering technology, and (3) advancing higher education. The scientific focus of SWARM-EX is to study the spatial and temporal variability of ion-neutral interactions in the equatorial Ionosphere-Thermosphere (I-T) region. Since the mission consists of three spacecraft operating in a swarm, SWARM-EX will take in-situ measurements of the neutral and ion composition on timescales of less than an orbital period to study the persistence and correlation between different phenomena in the I-T region. The engineering objectives of SWARM-EX are focused on advancing the state of the art in spacecraft formation flying. In addition to being the first passively safe, autonomous formation of more than two spacecraft, SWARM-EX will demonstrate several other key innovations. These include a novel hybrid propulsive/differential drag control scheme and the realization of a distributed aeronomy sensor. Asa project selected by the NSF for its broader impacts as well as its intellectual merit, SWARM-EX aims to use CubeSat development as a vehicle for education. The six collaborating institutions have varying levels of CubeSat experience and involve students who range from first-year undergraduates to Ph.D. candidates. These differences in knowledge, as well as the distributed nature of the program, present a tremendous educational opportunity, but also raise challenges such as cross-institutional communication and coordination, document sharing and file management, and hardware development. By detailing its procedures for overcoming these challenges, the SWARM-EX team believes that it may serve as a case study for the coordination of a successful CubeSat program distributed across multiple institutions