Using Multi-Disciplinary Design Challenges to Enhance Self-Efficacy within a Summer STEM Outreach Program

Research regarding STEM programs has shown that participating in these programs leads to increased knowledge and retention of technological concepts [1]. Additionally, participating in STEM programs leads to increased self-confidence, satisfaction, and interest in engineering [2]. Current research focuses on whether participating in STEM programs increases self-efficacy [3]. However, several factors can influence the effectiveness of these programs. For example, motivation influences the degree to which participants are engaged with activities as does their background knowledge [4]. Additionally, program effectiveness is impacted by the limitations of the learning context itself such that participants will be unable to complete designs if expectations for the design exceed the constraints of their environment [4]. The program is designed to introduce and educate the participants in the various engineering disciplines offered at the collegiate level and culminates in a multi-disciplinary design challenge designed as a “collaborative-benefit” competition [5]. The program is meant to drive students toward collaboration and achievement of a shared goal. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an intensive, two-week project-based engineering program for high school students on self-efficacy and engineering identity in the participants. Results from this year’s survey suggest that participating in the program increased high school students’ perceived and actual knowledge of the engineering discipline. Completing the program also led to improvements in self-efficacy and increased interest in the field of engineering. This paper will discuss the process for developing design challenges for assessment of self-efficacy, assessment tools, and outcomes from the program delivery.Cockrell School of Engineerin

How Not to Build a CubeSat – Lessons Learned from Developing and Launching NMSU\u27s First CubeSat

Ionospheric Neutron Content Analyzer (INCA), a student led CubeSat project at New Mexico State University (NMSU). INCA is launching on NASA’s ELaNa 20 mission carrying a neutron detector designed and built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The INCA mission is the first spacecraft built by New Mexico State University in many years, as such, the program was essentially started from scratch with minimal pre-existing resources. While eventually successful, INCA took many missteps along the way, starting out as a 6U, eventually being completely redesigned to a 3U, before launching after around six years of development. This paper documents INCA’s design, build, and early operations, along the way the team learned many lessons about designing and building a small satellite in the context of a university program. This paper is targeted at new university teams considering starting a mission, documenting best practices learned by the INCA team, and some pitfalls to avoid

Attitude Control Optimization of a Virtual Telescope for X-ray Observations

In this paper, a novel approach is investigated for the attitude control of two satellites acting as a virtual telescope. The Virtual Telescope for X-ray Observations (VTXO) is a mission exploiting two 6U-CubeSats operating in precision formation. The goal of the VTXO project is to develop a space-based, X-ray imaging telescope with high angular resolution precision. In this scheme, one CubeSat carries a diffractive lens and the other one carries an imaging device to support a focal length of 100 m. In this mission, the attitude control algorithms are required to keep the two spacecrafts in alignment with the Crab Nebula observations. To meet this goal, the attitude measurements from the gyros and the star trackers are used in an extended Kalman filter, for a robust hybrid controller. Due to limited energy and the requirement of high accuracy, the energy and accuracy of attitude control is optimized for this mission

Virtual Telescope for X-Ray Observations

Selected by NASA for an Astrophysics Science SmallSat study, The Virtual Telescope for X-Ray Observations (VTXO) is a small satellite mission being developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and New Mexico State University (NMSU). VTXO will perform X-ray observations with an angular resolution around 50 milliarcseconds, an order of magnitude better than is achievable by current state of the art X-ray telescopes. VTXO’s fine angular resolution enables measuring the environments closer to the central engines in compact X-ray sources. This resolution will be achieved by the use of Phased Fresnel Lenses (PFLs) optics which provide near diffraction-limited imaging in the X-ray band. However, PFLs require long focal lengths in order to realize their imaging performance, for VTXO this dictates that the telescope’s optics and the camera will have a separation of 1 km. As it is not realistic to build a structure this large in space, the solution being adapted for VTXO is to place the camera, and the optics on two separate spacecraft and fly them in formation with the necessary spacing. This requires centimeter level control, and sub-millimeter level knowledge of the two spacecraft’s relative transverse position. This paper will present VTXO’s current baseline, with particular emphasis on the mission’s flight dynamics design

Navigation and Control Performance Utilizing Precision Formation Flying Along a Propellent Optimized Trajectory for the VTXO Mission

The Virtual Telescope for X-Ray Observations (VTXO) is part of a new generation of distributed component, long focal length telescopes which promise to provide orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution in the X-ray band over the current state of the art. VTXO will include Phased Fresnel Lenses (PFL), which provide nearly diffraction-limited imaging, with around a 1 km focal length carried by the Optics Spacecraft (OSC), which will fly in a precision formation with the Detector Spacecraft (DSC) approximating a rigid telescope body, with the telescope achieving nearly 50 milli-arcsecond angular resolution in the 4.5 – 6.7 keV X-ray band [1]. In order to maintain the precise formation requirements, while pointing the telescope axis at the desired astronomical targets, one or both spacecraft will inherently be traveling on a non-natural orbit trajectory. These families of trajectories require one or both vehicles to maneuver regularly to maintain the desired path

Hybrid Attitude Control of a Two-CubeSat Virtual Telescope in a Highly Elliptical Orbit

The Virtual telescope for X-ray observation (VTXO) is a mission exploiting two 6U-CubeSats operating in precision formation. The goal of the VTXO research is to develop a space-based, X-ray imaging telescope with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. In the scheme, one CubeSat carries a diffractive lens and the other one carries an imaging device to support focal lengths from 100m to 1 km. In this mission, the Guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) algorithms are required to keep the two spacecraft in alignment while collecting data. In the VTXO mission, we have three major phases including the open-loop formation phase, the development phase, and the scientific phase. In the open-loop formation phase, no attitude control is performed and the two satellites pass the perigee to achieve the development phase. In the next phase, the development phase, the coarse pre-attitude control is performed to provide enough attitude determination for the scientific phase. In the scientific phase, the precision attitude control takes place. In this phase, the two satellites point at the Crab Nebula or the Sun. This phase takes place in the apogee since there is more time in the apogee, comparing to the other parts of the orbit, and the two satellites move more slowly, which results in a more precise attitude control. In this paper, attitude control is exploited based on the quaternion model of the two satellites. In this model, the gravitational and the atmospheric drag perturbations are considered. In the attitude control design of the system, the noises of different sensors, including the astrometric sensor, the IMU sensor, and the star tracker, are considered and the navigation part of the control system uses a filter to approximate the relative velocity and position of the two satellites based on the noisy data from the sensors. In the attitude control system, each phase has to be stable and the duration of each phase has to be designed based on the stability of each phase, the stability of the whole system and the desired sub-arcsecond angular resolution in the scientific phase with all the noises and the perturbations in the system. Considering all the previously mentioned criteria involved in the attitude control deign and the three different phases in the attitude control, hybrid control techniques are investigated in this paper for the attitude control design, due to the fact that hybrid control has the capacity to satisfy the given criteria and can include different stages in control

A Europa CubeSat Concept Study for Measuring Europa\u27s Atmosphere

This presentation is the product of a nine-month mission concept study for a CubeSat that would be carried aboard the JPL Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission, released in the Jovian system and make measurements at Europa. We examined the scientific return as well as the technical feasibility of a CubeSat designed to study the linkage between Europa\u27s radiation environment which generates Europa\u27s atmosphere through sputtering and radiolytic processes, and its atmospheric structure. This would be accomplished by measuring a) energetic particles at Europa and b) its atmospheric density through drag forces on the CubeSat. The findings of our concept study for the Deployable Atmospheric Reconnaissance CubeSat with Sputtering Ion Detector at Europa (DARCSIDE) indicate that the technology exists to enable a 3U, 4.4 kg CubeSat to detect Europa\u27s tenuous atmosphere beginning ~200 km above the surface for ~400 s of flight time during a single flyby, by measuring drag on the vehicle. By including a charged particle detector, we can also measure the sputtering-induced charged particle flux incident on Europa\u27s surface - either for a single arc across the surface or for a number of predeployment Jovian orbits while onboard the Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission - depending on the length of time the instrument is powered on. In addition to providing highly complementary science to the Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission, the combination of the accelerometer and charged particle detector will yield important insights for the study of Europa\u27s atmosphere and surface composition, its interaction with the Jovian magnetosphere, and possibly links to its subsurface ocean. This presentation will be focused on the technical challenges of the DARCSIDE mission. The major challenges to be discussed will include how to survive with only one twenty-fifth the energy available at the Earth, this has significant implications for spacecraft temperature and electrical power generation. Additionally, survival in the extreme Jovian radiation environment will be discussed, along how to meet planetary protection requirements for Europa, which requires DARCSIDE to never impact Europa. Finally, the design for the DARCSIDE drag system, and accelerometers will be discussed

Relative Navigation Schemes for Formation Flying of Satellites

This paper will present a survey of relative navigation methods that can be adapted to the Virtual Telescope for X-ray Observations (VTXO) project. VTXO is a collaboration between educational institutions (NMSU, UNM) and NASA GSFC and supports NASA’s Science Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The VTXO mission is a sub-arcsecond resolution X-ray telescope that will utilize two CubeSats flying in formation. The two CubeSats will carry a lens and camera mounted on a leader and a follower, respectively. The main objective of the mission is to investigate technologies that will enable a full Virtual Telescope space mission. This mission will require very precise alignment and determination (sub-arcsecond to milli-arcsecond) to enable imaging at a higher quality than currently available. This will be made possible through relative navigation methods that enable formation flying of the CubeSats. Formation flying consists of satellites, in a constellation, that maneuver around or maintain a position relative to one another. Formation flight utilizes principles of relative navigation to resolve position and velocity telemetry relative to both an inertial frame and two or more satellites in the constellation. High precision alignment requirements call for precise knowledge of both spacecraft’s position relative to one another. In the case of a pair of satellites, a leader and follower scheme is used. The absolute position and velocity with respect to an inertial frame is determined for each vehicle using GPS, radar or other techniques that will be discussed. The relative position with respect to each spacecraft can then be resolved and corrections can be made to the follower’s attitude to align itself with respect to the leader. The technology enabled by formation flight enables smaller spacecraft to perform complex science missions such as interferometry, stereographic imaging, telescope-occulter imaging, and others. A technology driver in the development of the science for relative navigation and formation flying is the need for autonomy. As deep space exploration interest grows, the need for autonomous relative navigation systems also expands. Systems such as GPS and NASA’s DSN work well for near earth missions but do not satisfy the precision requirements needed for autonomous formation flying in deep space. The insight gained by this survey will provide valuable information for the VTXO mission where bilateral communication between the CubeSats is required for alignment. The survey of relative navigation systems will examine both developed and state-of-the-art techniques: GPS tracking, Deep Space Network (DSN), Ground station to satellite Doppler, X-ray pulsars, and others. These systems will be categorized based on the mission altitude, their nominal performance at relative distance, and their applicability to Small Satellites. These technologies will be analyzed with the context of how they can be leveraged for use on the VTXO mission