Nepal\u27s Danfe Space Mission: Technology Demonstration Mission on a 3U CubeSat to Mitigate Glacial Lake Outburst Floods

The United Nations Development Program ranks Nepal as the fourth-most country susceptible to climate change. The Global warming has caused more than 40 glacial lakes to potentially burst at any moment. A few Early Warning Systems are in place but are connected by ground cellular networks. A ground-to-space monitoring system instead, can help deter Glacial Lake Outburst Flood reliably. This paper outlines such a system through Nepal\u27s Danfe Space Mission placed on a 3U CubeSat. Danfe demonstrates the first use case of ported PX4 drone Operating System alongside a LoRa integrated STM32 Satellite System-on-Chip. A Ground Sensor Terminal with ultrasonic sensor and LoRa beacons glacier water level data to space. If the demonstration is successful, future satellite constellations for monitoring glaciers can be produced in a significantly shorter period as both hardware and software are drastically simplified. Such constellations can provide near-real time water level data while inciting actions to prevent any impending flash floods