Interplanetary Rideshare Cost/Benefit Analysis: A Mars Mission Approach

In recent years the popularity of rideshare missions has increased dramatically. Rideshare missions have become the primary launch mechanism for small satellites and have provided high cost and logistical benefits for spacecraft developers. Rideshare launches are now available on even the most oversized vehicles, such as Falcon 9. In addition, rideshare opportunities are becoming available beyond launch, with several companies providing shared transportation services using transfer vehicles to deploy spacecraft in different orbits in LEO or beyond. The rideshare launch model can easily be expanded to interplanetary missions, and some launches, such as SLS-1 (Artemis 1), are already planned to deploy several spacecraft beyond LEO. However, as in LEO, the rideshare concept can be expanded beyond the launch phase in interplanetary missions using a carrier vehicle. In this approach, spacecraft heading for destinations beyond Earth obit would share a carrier vehicle to deliver them to their destination. This paper analyzes the implications of such an interplanetary carrier vehicle in a Mars transfer scenario. Mars is chosen due to its popularity as a destination for scientific missions, but the analysis is relevant to other potential destinations such as Venus or the asteroid belt. The paper analyzes the effect of the rideshare concept in Interplanetary Transfer Operations: the need for individual spacecraft operations in transit is eliminated since a single carrier vehicle is taking care of the trip to Mars. Operations include tracking and deep-space communications as well as navigation and maneuvering. The paper ends with a call for action for funding agencies interested in interplanetary missions to empower the definition of new standards needed to ensure high levels of commonality

Improving Launch Vibration Environments for CubeSats

Auxiliary payload accommodations often place CubeSats in unusual locations on the launch vehicle that result in severe dynamic environments. CubeSats and their payloads have recently become more sophisticated and thus, more sensitive to these harsh environments. This is even more relevant for larger CubeSats with very sophisticated but fragile instruments. Developers of this class of CubeSats desire low environmental loads that can be accurately predicted, in order to ensure mission success. One option is to reduce high dynamic loads through the implementation of isolation. Before looking at reducing these levels, it is important to understand the actual levels the CubeSat sees on launch, rather than just the levels input to the CubeSat dispenser. Primary spacecraft load sources are discussed and compared to load sources for auxiliary payloads. CubeSat payload levels for different dispensers are explored, including the transmissibility of a P-POD, an NLAS, and a CSD, both with and without isolation in order to examine the CubeSat levels and how they differ with different constraint mechanisms

CubeSat: The Development and Launch Support Infrastructure for Eighteen Different Satellite Customers on One Launch

Stanford University and California Polytechnic State University have combined efforts to develop a means of launching small picosatellites called CubeSat. The CubeSat is a 10cm cube weighting 1 kg or less. The launching system developed will provide launches for three satellites in one launcher tube. The first mission for this launcher will be to fly six tubes to launch as many as 24 CubeSats in May 2002 on a Kosmotras, Dnepr ELV from Bikinour, Ukraine. Stanford and Cal Poly are providing active technical support for the CubeSat developers, which are mostly universities. Once the CubeSats have been developed by the universities and other customers, they will be sent to Cal Poly for final testing, insertion into the launcher then shipped to One Stop Satellite Solutions in Ogden, Utah where they will be mounted on the OSSS Multiple Payload Adapter, then sent to Russia and integrated onto the Dnepr

Non-Deployable Miniaturized Quadslot Antenna for Cubesats

The combination of the structural panels of a 1U cubesat and their air gaps can form a quadslot antenna. This type of antenna eliminates the need for a deployment mechanism and reduces the risk of a disconnection from the satellite. The electrical field constructs in an air gap at the corner of two panels, and when all four panels are powered the antenna emits a semi-omnidirectional radiation pattern similar to a dipole. Unlike a dipole, it can radiate up to 5dB of gain instead of 2.15dB. Another benefit to this antenna is its ability to have sensors and or solar cells on the panels without interfering with the radiation pattern. This is because each panel serves two electrical purposes: increasing the electrical length to reduce frequency and providing space for miscellaneous electrical hardware. Overall, this type of antenna provides the same capability as an L-dipole or patch antenna without sacrificing space, increasing cost, or cumulating more risk. The design allows for a variety of flexibility in frequency, bandwidth, physical size, or construction. This was designed and developed at California Polytechnic State University

CubeSat: A New Generation of Picosatellite for Education and Industry Low-Cost Space Experimentation

The launch and deployment of picosatellites from the Stanford University OPAL microsatellite in February 2000 demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of a new age of space experimentation. Two of the six picosatellites deployed from OPAL were built by The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA and demonstrated new space testing of MEMS RF switches and intersatellite and ground communication with low power wireless radios. These picosatellites weighting less than one kilogram with dimensions of 4x3x1 inch were built as test platforms for DARPA and were constructed and delivered for flight in less than nine months. From this experience, a new generation of picosats called CubeSat is being developed by a number of organizations and universities to accelerate opportunities with small, low construction cost, low launch cost space experiment platforms. California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, CA is developing launcher tubes that can be part of a satellite or attached to any orbiting platform to launch from 1-3 CubeSats per tube. These tubes will contain CubeSats of 1-2 kilograms weight and approximately 4-inch cube shape. This size as compared to the picosatellites launched on OPAL provide better surfaces for practical solar power generation, physical size for components and a shape that provides better space thermal stability. A consortium of potential CubeSat developers is now wide ranging with universities from Japan, New Zealand, the US, amateur radio clubs and industry participants. Potential launch opportunities exist with the Russian Dnepr (SS-18) about twice/year, with the OSP (Minotaur) every 18 months and possible 100 km altitude orbits from the second stage of Delta launches. This paper will review the OPAL picosatellite launch and performance, the launcher being built for the CubeSat, the development and payloads of CubeSat developers and cost and timing of launch opportunities

The Australian Space Eye: studying the history of galaxy formation with a CubeSat

The Australian Space Eye is a proposed astronomical telescope based on a 6U CubeSat platform. The Space Eye will exploit the low level of systematic errors achievable with a small space based telescope to enable high accuracy measurements of the optical extragalactic background light and low surface brightness emission around nearby galaxies. This project is also a demonstrator for several technologies with general applicability to astronomical observations from nanosatellites. Space Eye is based around a 90 mm aperture clear aperture all refractive telescope for broadband wide field imaging in the i and z bands.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, submitted for publication as Proc. SPIE 9904, 9904-56 (SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation 2016

Interplanetary CubeSats: Opening the Solar System to a Broad Community at Lower Cost

Interplanetary CubeSats could enable small, low-cost missions beyond low Earth orbit. This class is defined by mass < ~ 10 kg, cost < $30 M, and durations up to 5 years. Over the coming decade, a stretch of each of six distinct technology areas, creating one overarching architecture, could enable comparatively low-cost Solar System exploration missions with capabilities far beyond those demonstrated in small satellites to date. The six technology areas are: (1) CubeSat electronics and subsystems extended to operate in the interplanetary environment, especially radiation and duration of operation; (2) Optical telecommunications to enable very small, low-power uplink/downlink over interplanetary distances; (3) Solar sail propulsion to enable high !V maneuvering using no propellant; (4) Navigation of the Interplanetary Superhighway to enable multiple destinations over reasonable mission durations using achievable !V; (5) Small, highly capable instrumentation enabling acquisition of high-quality scientific and exploration information; and (6) Onboard storage and processing of raw instrument data and navigation information to enable maximum utility of uplink and downlink telecom capacity, and minimal operations staffing. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program in 2011 selected Interplanetary CubeSats for further investigation, some results of which are reported here for Phase 1

Aerobraking tethers for the exploration of the solar system

This thesis demonstrates the feasibility of using aerobraking tethers for the exploration of the solar system. The basic concept involves an orbiter and a probe connected by a thin tether. The probe is deployed into the atmosphere of a planet where aerodynamic drag decelerates it. The tension on the tether provides the braking effect on the orbiter, thus eliminating the need for a propulsive maneuver. During the maneuver the orbiter travels outside the atmosphere, and does not require heat shielding. After aerocapture has occurred, the tether may be severed allowing the probe to land on the planet, or the system may remain together and additional maneuvers can be performed to finalize the orbit. Initially a rigid rod model is used to demonstrate the superiority of the aerobraking technique over traditional chemical retro-rocket maneuvers in missions to the atmosphere-bearing planets. These findings are then confirmed with a more complex flexible model consisting of a collection of hinged rigid rods. Further reductions in the tether mass are realized through optimization techniques. The aerobraking tether is proven to be physically feasible, even when bending effects are included in the model. This provides the basis for a new class of exotic spacecraft for the exploration of the solar system with the potential for significant propellant savings

Desenvolupament de satèl·lits: els Cubesats

Xerrada del professor de Mecànica i Enginyeria Aeroespacial de la Universitat Politècnica Estatal de California (Cal Poly) sobre aquests microsatèl·lits de recerca espacial anomenats Cubesats, normalment amb un volum d'1 litre, un pes de no més d'1,33 kg i que es caracteritzen per ser construïts habitualment amb elements i components comercials. Les especificacions per als CubeSat van ser establertes l'any 1999 per la Universitat Politècnica de l'Estat de Califòrnia i la Universitat de Stanford para ajudar a les universitats de tot el món a realitzar investigacions espacials amb costos de menys de 100.000 dòlars per microsatèl·lit