Advanced engineering design program at the University of Illinois for the 1987-1988 academic year

The participation of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the NASA/USRA Universities Advanced Engineering Design Program (Space) is reviewed for the 1987 to 88 academic year. The University's design project was the Manned Marsplane and Delivery System. In the spring of 1988 semester, 107 students were enrolled in the Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering Departments' undergraduate Aerospace Vehicle Design course. These students were divided into an aircraft section (responsible for the Marsplane design), and a spacecraft section (responsible for the Delivery System Design). The design results are presented in Final Design Reports, copies of which are attached. In addition, five students presented a summary of the design results at the Program's Summer Conference

Development of a Low-Cost Multi-Camera Star Tracker for Small Satellites

This paper presents a novel small satellite star tracker that uses multiple low-cost cameras to achieve viable attitude determination performance. The theoretical analysis of the star detectability improvement by stacking images from multiple cameras is presented. An image processing algorithm is developed to combine images from multiple cameras with various focal lengths, principal point offsets, distortions, and misalignments. The star tracker also implements other algorithms including the region growing algorithm, the intensity weighted centroid algorithm, the geometric voting algorithm for star identification, and the singular value decomposition algorithm for attitude determination. A star tracker software simulator is used to test the algorithms by generating star images with sensor noises, lens defocusing, and lens distortion. A hardware prototype is assembled, and preliminary night sky testing was conducted to verify the feasibility of the selected hardware. The flight hardware for the star tracker is being developed in the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for future CubeSat missions

Closed Loop Analysis of Space Systems (CLASS): A Modular Test System for CubeSat Development

Closed Loop Analysis of Space Systems (CLASS) is a small satellite test system engineered and maintained by the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI), which is affiliated with the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. CLASS is designed to be modular and user-friendly while providing the capability to perform accurate and reliable closed-loop tests. Commercial and academic CubeSat developers struggle to implement adequate testing procedures because of the relatively short development timeline and the sophisticated and inaccessible nature of space systems test equipment. Hardware-in-the-loop testing offers a convenient “test-as-you-fly, fly-as-you-test” validation and verification option for CubeSats. CLASS features a customizable real-time satellite orbital mechanics and rigid body dynamics simulation programmed to execute on the widely used Raspberry Pi 4 (RPi4). The RPi4 can be successfully interfaced with numerous hardware elements including the satellite’s actual flight computer, sensors, and actuators. In case certain flight hardware components, such as the magnetometers and gyroscopes, are not available for testing, CLASS offers the option of using Arduino boards that are programmed to emulate satellite sensors and actuators. Using CLASS, closed-loop tests on the Attitude Determination and Control System of CAPSat, a LASSI 3U CubeSat, proved to be critical for the validation of a state feedback Earth-pointing controller

Development of an Innovative Payload Interface Board for CubeSats

This paper presents a modular, general-purpose payload interface board for rapidly integrating experiment hardware with existing CubeSat control electronics. The PayLoad Support Board (PLSB) provides four configurable power and data interfaces based on the MikroBUS™ standard on a custom-printed circuit board conforming to the CubeSat 1U physical standards. The MikroBUS™ standard has over 1,400 compatible off-the-shelf sensors, interfaces, transceivers, displays, motor drivers, data storage devices, clocks, and other electronic modules, all with a standard socket configuration. Standard 3.3V and 5V power options are provided to each of the interface’s four sockets, and SPI, I2C, and UART communication lines are present for data transfer between the payloads and the STM32L552 or RP2040 microcontrollers, which provide processing for the payload data. Hardware prototypes have been assembled in both flight-ready and non-flight-ready configurations. The non-flight variation is targeted at high school and undergraduate students who can develop their engineering skills and inexpensively test a variety of payload concepts before committing to critical design for flight

NASA/USRA University advanced design program

The participation of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the NASA/USRA University Advanced Design Program for the 1988 to 1989 academic year is reviewed. The University's design project was the Logistics Resupply and Emergency Crew Return System for Space Station Freedom. Sixty-one students divided into eight groups, participated in the spring 1989 semester. A presentation prepared by three students and a graduate teaching assistant for the program's summer conference summarized the project results. Teamed with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the University received support in the form of remote telecon lectures, reference material, and previously acquired applications software. In addition, a graduate teaching assistant was awarded a summer 1989 internship at MSFC

Lessons Learned from Development of Web-Based Mission Operations Software

The Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI) is responsible for the development of, and mission operations for, a series of student built CubeSats. The Steven R. Nagel Mission Operations Center (MOC) provides the facilities and software systems required to track and communicate withthe satellites. Mission operations software has been designed with a flexible and familiar user experience supporting not just traditional workstations but also mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This paper discusses the motivation behind choosing a web-based architecture for the scalable, full-stack design underlying the MOC software system. Also presented is the deliberate selection of mainstream languages, tools, and frameworks for containerization and web-based delivery – a philosophy that enables future enhancements and fosters maintainability. Processes that facilitate student workflow patterns such as comprehensive code reviews and development operations (DevOps) automation are presented

Preliminary Design of the DarkNESS Observatory for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

The Dark matter as a sterile NEutrino Search Satellite (DarkNESS) is a collaboration between Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), University of Illinois Department of Aerospace Engineering\u27s Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI), and CU Aerospace. Fermilab\u27s project seeks to clarify the X-ray emission spotted by the European Space Agency in galaxy clusters, hypothesized to result from the decay of sterile neutrinos that may be associated with dark matter. Limited by atmospheric interference, ground telescopes cannot discern the weak X-ray signal. A small satellite deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) outfitted with an advanced Skipper X-ray detector has been proposed to observe the galactic center, potentially detecting the signal. DarkNESS is a challenging mission involving multiple operational constraints. This paper presents the results of the feasibility assessment undertaken for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) that revealed the thermal, power, and pointing constraints imposed by orbital mechanics on the mission concept of operations, along with their resolutions. The DarkNESS mission’s next milestone is the Critical Design Review scheduled for early 2024

Thermal Risk Mitigation Testing of the DarkNESS Observatory for Fermi NationalAccelerator Laboratory

This paper presents the prototype design and laboratory test results of the thermal control system for the Dark matter as sterile Neutrino Search Satellite (DarkNESS). A collaboration between Fermilab, CU Aerospace, and the University of Illinois Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems (LASSI), the 6U satellite uses a Skipper CCD to detect weak 3.55 – 3.57 keV X-ray emissions, previously discovered by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observatories. To minimize read-out noise, the thermal control system incorporates a 10 W integral rotary cryocooler and passive heat transfer elements, maintaining the CCD at an operating temperature of 170 K. Analyses of the Earth\u27s obstruction of the instrument’s field of view and the impact of external heating on the instrument aperture established performance requirements and attitude constraints for the thermal control system. A high-fidelity test of a preliminary design was performed in a thermal vacuum chamber, prompting modifications to improve the thermal system design margins. This effort precedes the Critical Design Review milestone

CubeSat Single-Photon Detector Module for Performing In-Orbit Laser Annealing to Heal Radiation Damage

Silicon-based single-photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs), widely considered for satellite-based quantum communications, suffer a constant increase of dark count rate (DCR) from radiation-induced proton displacement damage in their active areas. When this accumulated damage causes the DCR to exceed a certain threshold (for example, 10,000 counts per second), the SPADs become unreliable for quantum communications, limiting mission lifetime. Previous ground experiments showed that radiation-induced DCR of synthetically irradiated SPADs could be significantly improved by high-power laser annealing, a localized heating of SPADs’ active areas using a focused laser beam. The next step is therefore to demonstrate realtime laser annealing on constantly irradiated SPADs in actual low-Earth-orbit is viable. To facilitate this study, the University of Waterloo team built a miniaturized software controllable SPAD module as part of the annealing payload on CAPSat (Cool Annealing Payload Satellite), a 3U CubeSat satellite developed by a team from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We present the concept of in-orbit laser annealing and the electronic platform of the SPAD module containing four detectors supporting thermal and laser annealing and detector characterization. The CAPSat, launched and deployed in a low-Earth orbit at 400 km altitude from the International Space Station in October 2021, was intended to assess the viability of this approach before incorporating SPADs in future quantum satellite missions, especially in quantum receivers

Design methodology for a neural network-based telemetry monitor

This dissertation identifies the requirements and evaluates an architectural framework for an artificial neural network-based system that is capable of fulfilling monitoring and control requirements of future aerospace missions. Incorporated into this framework are a newly developed training algorithm and the concept of cooperative network architectures. The feasibility of such an approach is assessed for its ability to identify faults in low frequency waveforms and to generate subsequent controlling outputs for a single parameter spacecraft system.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio