University-Class Spacecraft in 2023: More Missions, More Problems?

A university-class mission is one where the training of the students is as least as important as the in-orbit results from the spacecraft. Since the University of Melbourne\u27s Australis OSCAR 5 launched in 1970, nearly 300 universities around the world have built & launched 720 university-class spacecraft. But, most of these events are recent: more than half of these schools had their first launch in the last five years. Coincidentally, 5 years ago is the last time that a paper like this was presented at the conference. And thus it\u27s worth updating the previous work with all these new data points! Therefore, this paper will review the history of university-class missions with an emphasis on the last five years. These missions will be cataloged and collated to look for trends in spacecraft size, mission type, and on-orbit performance. As usual, three sets of questions will guide the discussion: What kinds of missions have been flown, are being flown and should be flown? What are historical and present-day mission success rates for university-class missions? Why are the mission success rates so poor

Reliving 24 Years in the next 12 Minutes: A Statistical and Personal History of University-Class Satellites

In 2018, university-class satellites -- spacecraft built by university students for the express purpose of student training -- are widely accepted as a means to recruit undergraduate students into the space workforce, train them effectively before graduation and retain them in the field after graduation. Hundreds of undergraduates at dozens of schools around the world have directly contributed to missions that operated on-orbit. The spacecraft themselves are capable of performance research-grade science or demonstrate new enabling technologies. This was not always the case. For the first forty years of spaceflight, there were exceedingly few university-class missions; those that flew were expensive, marginally-performing and had modest success rates. What changed? Why are university-class missions now commonplace? And, with respect to on-orbit success, are they as good (or as bad) as rumor and hearsay make them out to be? In this paper and all-too-brief talk, the history of university-class spacecraft will be discussed, with an emphasis on the types of missions and their success rates. Beginning in 1994 (the author\u27s first time attending this conference, as a wide-eyed student) and reaching through to 2018 (the author\u27s 21st, now as a world-weary professor) a statistical and anecdotal review of university-class spacecraft will be presented. Particular attention will be paid to addressing these questions: 1) What kinds of missions have been flown, are being flown and should be flown? 2) What are historical and present-day mission success rates for university-class missions? 3) Why are the mission success rates so poor

Getting Started: Using a Global Circumnavigation Balloon Flight to Explore Picosatellite (CubeSat) Technology

Washington University\u27s Project Aria is currently involved in the CubeSat program. Project Aria is a student-led engineering education, research, and K-12 outreach program. The project’s CubeSat goal is the development of a spherical imaging spacecraft, the Palantir , ready for launch in late 2002. Recently, the Palantir team was offered the opportunity to fly a small payload on a global circumnavigation balloon flight in mid-2001. The payload would collect atmospheric data such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. The student team decided to use this opportunity to explore various technologies they plan for Palantir. This resulting in a fast, challenging engineering project that developed the skills needed for a successful picosatellite project. The technologies to be explored include a self-contained power system with solar cells, on-board computers, on-board cameras, various sensors, satellite communications, and mission operations. One specific test involves mounting temperature sensors throughout the probe. The students will then compare actual thermal reading to predicted thermal readings. Other specific tests will involve the use of several different types of solar cells to judge performance. Finally, students will remotely operate the payload as they would the satellite to explore operating concepts and tools. This balloon opportunity allows students the chance to explore various technologies and operating concepts needed for a successful satellite program without the high cost of a launch. This paper briefly describes the Palantir CubeSat program, the Palantir Technology Demonstration balloon program, and the results of the flight. Particular attention is paid to goals of the balloon flight and a review of the successes and failures. Lessons learned from the test flight can be applied to other universities seeking to develop CubeSats and other project-based programs

A Distributed Computing Architecture for Small Satellite and Multi-Spacecraft Missions

Distributed computing architectures offer numerous advantages in the development of complex devices and systems. This paper describes the design, implementation and testing of a distributed computing architecture for low-cost small satellite and multi-spacecraft missions. This system is composed of a network of PICmicro® microcontrollers linked together by an I2C serial data communication bus. The system also supports sensor and component integration via Dallas 1-wire and RS232 standards. A configuration control processor serves as the external gateway for communication to the ground and other satellites in the network; this processor runs a multitasking real-time operating system and an advanced production rule system for on-board autonomy. The data handling system allows for direct command and data routing between distinct hardware components and software tasks. This capability naturally extends to distributed control between spacecraft subsystems, between constellation satellites, and between the space and ground segments. This paper describes the technical design of the aforementioned features. It also reviews the use of this system as part of the two-satellite Emerald and QUEST university small satellite missions

The Bandit: An Automated Vision-Navigated Inspector Spacecraft

Further improvements in the reliability and operational lifetime of space systems require the ability to detect and repair problems on-orbit. The detection task would be aided by detailed, on-demand images of any region of the vehicle’s exterior. One proposed method to do this is a deployable, maneuverable, camera-carrying “inspector” spacecraft. Such systems should be small, lightweight and low-cost to minimize changes to the parent vehicle, and, ideally, they should be capable of docking for re-use and safe stowage. Researchers and students at Washington University propose the Bandit, a prototype inspector spacecraft, as part of the 25-kg Akoya University Nanosatellite Program. A 1-kg inspector releases from its parent vehicle, performs a visual inspection of the exterior, and re-docks. The carbon-fiber shell of the inspector contains an imager, transceiver and cold-gas propulsion system; the Akoya spacecraft holds the docking mechanism, another transceiver and image processing and flight control hardware. The Bandit is automatically controlled by Akoya using video images aided by exterior visual markings; ground controllers provide high-level directions. This paper outlines the mission profile and major subsystems of the Bandit, with emphasis on flight control, vision and image processing subsystems. Early prototyping and flight-readiness plans are also discussed

University CubeSat Project Management for Success

CubeSats have been developed by many different institutions since they were introduced by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University in 1999. Given the 40% failure rate of university missions, it is important to discover what project arrangements may give the CubeSat the best chance of success. The aim of this paper is to offer those wishing to start a CubeSat program some indications of what successful project management at a university may look like. This paper provides case studies of 3 universities who have launched more than 4 satellites: University of Michigan, the Montana State University, and Aalborg University in Denmark. The information was gathered by asking supervisors from these teams a series of questions relating to project management. These included team structure, continuity, how the students organize themselves, how much of the work is embedded in the curriculum, how new students were integrated and how documentation was used to manage the project. The different methods of organization used in the different programs were described with their unique features. After this, both the variation and the common elements were identified. It is hoped that this research will contribute to successful CubeSat projects in universities worldwide

Sustained attention in children with two etiologies of early hydrocephalus.

Several studies have shown that children with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) and hydrocephalus have attention problems on parent ratings and difficulties in stimulus orienting associated with a posterior brain attention system. Less is known about response control and inhibition associated with an anterior brain attention system. Using the Gordon Vigilance Task (Gordon, 1983), we studied error rate, reaction time, and performance over time for sustained attention, a key anterior attention function, in 101 children with SBM, 17 with aqueductal stenosis (AS; another condition involving congenital hydrocephalus), and 40 typically developing controls (NC). In SBM, we investigated the relation between cognitive attention and parent ratings of inattention and hyperactivity and explored the impact of medical variables. Children with SBM did not differ from AS or NC groups on measures of sustained attention, but they committed more errors and responded more slowly. Approximately one-third of the SBM group had attention symptoms, although parent attention ratings were not associated with task performance. Hydrocephalus does not account for the attention profile of children with SBM, which also reflects the distinctive brain dysmorphologies associated with this condition

University-Class Satellites: From Marginal Utility to \u27Disruptive\u27 Research Platforms

The last ten years have seen a tremendous increase in the number of student-built spacecraft projects; however, the main outcome of these programs has been student training and, on some occasions, extremely low-cost space access for the university science community. Because of constrained resources and an inherently-constrained development team (students), universities have not been in a position to develop \u27disruptive\u27 space technologies; in order to secure launches, they are forced to build low-capability, high-margin systems using established design practices. However, universities have one inherent advantage in developing \u27disruptive\u27 space systems: the freedom to fail. Experimental failure is a basic element of university life, and from the university\u27s perspective a failed spacecraft is not necessarily a failed mission. Because of this freedom, universities can take risks with spacecraft that no sensible professional program would dare attempt. The tremendous reduction in the size and cost of electronics are making possible \u27disposable\u27 spacecraft that function for only weeks, but whose very low cost and short development cycle make their launch and operation affordable. Universities are uniquely poised to take advantage of disposable spacecraft, and such spacecraft could be used to develop \u27disruptive\u27 satellite technologies. This paper briefly reviews the history of student-built spacecraft, identifying general trends in spacecraft design and university capabilities. The capabilities and constraints of university programs are matched against these emerging technologies to outline the kinds of unique missions and design methodologies universities can use to contribute to the small satellite industry. Finally, this paper will provide examples of these \u27disruptive\u27 technologies

The Promise of Innovation from University Space Systems: Are We Meeting It?

A popular notion among universities is that we are innovation-drivers in the staid, risk-adverse spacecraft industry – we are to professional small satellites what small satellites are to the “battlestars”. By contrast, professional industry takes a much different perspective on university-class spacecraft; these programs are good for attracting students to space and providing valuable pre-career training, but the actual flight missions are ancillary, even unimportant. Which opinion is correct? Both are correct. The vast majority of the 111 student-built spacecraft that have flown have made no innovative contributions. That is not to say that they have been without contribution. In addition to the inarguable benefits to education, many have served as radio Amateur communications, science experiments and even technological demonstrations. But “innovative”? Not so much. However, there have been two innovative contributors, whose contributions are large enough to settle the question: the University of Surrey begat SSTL, which helped create the COTS-based small satellite industry. Stanford and Cal Poly begat CubeSats, whose contributions are still being created today. This paper provides an update to our earlier submissions on the history of student-built spacecraft. Major trends identified in previous years will be re-examined with new data -- especially the bifurcation between larger-scale, larger-scope flagship programs and small-scale, reduced-mission independents . In particular, we will demonstrate that the general history of student-built spacecraft has not been one of innovation, nor of development of new space systems -- with those few, extremely noteworthy, exceptions. We will assess why these innovations have not surfaced, and what can be done to change that situation -- if indeed it can (or should) be changed