CubeSat

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Ncube-2, a Norwegian Cubesat

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a volume of exactly one liter (10 cm cube), has a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms,[1] and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf components for its electronics.

Beginning in 1999, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and Stanford University developed the CubeSat specifications to help universities worldwide to perform space science and exploration.

The majority of development comes from academia, but several companies have built CubeSats, including large-satellite-maker Boeing. The CubeSat format is also popular with amateur radio satellite builders.

Contents

Design [edit]

The CubeSat specification accomplishes several high-level goals. Simplification of the satellite's infrastructure makes it possible to design and produce a workable satellite at low cost. Encapsulation of the launcher-payload interface takes away the prohibitive amount of managerial work that would previously be required for mating a piggyback satellite with its launcher. Unification among payloads and launchers enables quick exchanges of payloads and utilization of launch opportunities on short notice.

The term "CubeSat" was coined to denote nano-satellites that adhere to the standards described in the CubeSat design specification. Cal Poly published the standard in an effort led by aerospace engineering professor Jordi Puig-Suari.[2] Bob Twiggs, from the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at Stanford University, and currently on the space science faculty at Morehead State University in Kentucky, has contributed to the CubeSat community.[3] His efforts have focused on CubeSats from educational institutions.[4] The specification does not apply to other cube-like nano-satellites such as the NASA "MEPSI" nano-satellite, which is slightly larger than a CubeSat.

1U CubeSat structure

In 2004, with their relatively small size, CubeSats could each be made and launched for an estimated $65,000–$80,000.[2] This price tag, far lower than most satellite launches, has made CubeSat a viable option for schools and universities across the world. Because of this, a large number of universities and some companies and government organizations around the world are developing CubeSats — between 40 and 50 universities in 2004, Cal Poly reported.[2]

The standard 10×10×10 cm basic CubeSat is often called a "1U" CubeSat meaning one unit. CubeSats are scalable along only one axis, by 1U increments. CubeSats such as a "2U" CubeSat (20×10×10 cm) and a "3U" CubeSat (30×10×10 cm) have been both built and launched.

Since CubeSats are all 10x10 cm (regardless of length) they can all be launched and deployed using a common deployment system. CubeSats are typically launched and deployed from a mechanism called a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD), also developed and built by Cal Poly.[5] P-PODs are mounted to a launch vehicle and carry CubeSats into orbit and deploy them once the proper signal is received from the launch vehicle. P-PODs have deployed over 90% of all CubeSats launched to date (including un-successful launches), and 100% of all CubeSats launched since 2006. The P-POD Mk III has capacity for three 1U CubeSats. Since three 1U CubeSats are exactly the same size as one 3U CubeSat, and two 1U CubeSats are the same size as one 2U CubeSat, the P-POD can deploy 1U, 2U, or 3U CubeSats in any combination up to a maximum volume of 3U.[6]

CubeSat forms a cost-effective independent means of getting a payload into orbit.[2] Most CubeSats carry one or two scientific instruments as their primary mission payload. Several companies and research institutes offer regular launch opportunities in clusters of several cubes. ISC Kosmotras and Eurokot are two companies that offer such services.[7]

History [edit]

The CubeSat reference design was proposed[when?] by professors Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic State University and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University. The goal was to enable graduate students to be able to design, build, test and operate in space a spacecraft with capabilities similar to that of the first spacecraft, Sputnik. The CubeSat as initially proposed did not set out to become a standard; rather, it became a standard over time by a process of emergence. The first CubeSats were launched in June 2003 on a Russian Eurockot, and approximately 75 CubeSats have been placed into orbit as of August 2012.[8]

CubeSats launched from the International Space Station on 4 October 2012

One of the earliest launches of CubeSats was 30 June 2003 from Plesetsk, Russia, with Eurockot Launch Services's Multiple Orbit Mission. CubeSats were put into a sun-synchronous orbit and included the Danish AAU CubeSat and DTUSat, the Japanese CubeSat XI-IV and CUTE-1, the Canadian Can X-1, and the US triple-CubeSat Quakesat.[9]

On 27 October 2005, a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle launched from Plesetsk carried three CubeSats into orbit on the European Space Agency's Student Space Exploration & Technology Initiative (SSETI) mission. The SSETI Express Satellite student-built satellite was not a CubeSat as it weighed 136 pounds and was the size of a washing machine.[10] The CubeSats that did make orbit on this launch were the Ncube satellite project from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Tokyo's CubeSat XI-V.[10]

The Falcon 1 rocket lifting off at Omelek Island on July 14, 2009.[11]

On 26 July 2006, 14 CubeSats from 11 universities and a private company were launched aboard a Dnepr rocket, the largest planned deployment of CubeSats to date.[4] The rocket failed and was destroyed during launch, obliterating the CubeSats and four other satellites aboard.[12] The launch was lost after the first stage engine shut down prematurely.[13] All satellite parts are believed destroyed. The committee investigating the failed launch concluded that the failure was caused by a malfunctioning hydraulic drive unit on the rocket's first stage.[14] The malfunction brought about control disturbances which led to roll instability and excessive excursions of yaw and pitch angles. Thrust termination occurred at 74 seconds after lift off. The launch had been postponed numerous times because the primary payload, EgyptSat 1, was not ready. Due to ITAR concerns,[citation needed] the CubeSats were moved to a different launch site, with the primary payload being BelKA, which was to be the first satellite from Belarus. The launch carried Rincon 1 and SACRED, both from the University of Arizona and UniSat-4 from the University of Rome (GAUSS team). Other projects came from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Hankuk Aviation University, Seoul, Korea and Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. The Aerospace Corporation, from the United States, also had its own commercial project on board.

Seven CubeSats were launched 17 April 2007 as secondary payloads on a Dnepr rocket.[15] They included a Colombian project from the students at the Universidad Sergio Arboleda. Their satellite, called Libertad 1, was Colombia's first. The Aerospace Corporation had their AeroCube 2,[16] CP-3 & CP-4 were on board from California Polytechnic State University,[17] and CAPE-1 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

In a launch coordinated by the Nanosatellite Launch System, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched CubeSats on April 28, 2008. One was a 3-unit CubeSat (10x10x30 centimeters) named Delfi-C3 from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.[18]

On 3 August 2008, a SpaceX Falcon 1 launched from the Kwajalein Atoll launch facility (US) with two NASA CubeSats. They were the PREsat from NASA's Ames Research Center, and the NanoSail-D from both NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center.[19] These CubeSats were lost due to a launch vehicle failure when the rocket's first stage inadvertently made contact with the second stage after separation. The ground spare for NanoSail, the NanoSail-D2 cubesat, was successfully launched in November 2010 and deployed from the FASTSAT satellite on a Minotaur IV launch.

On December 8, 2010, several CubeSats were reported to have deployed successfully from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the same one that launched their first Dragon spacecraft on COTS Demo Flight 1.

On March 4, 2011, the Glory mission was lost when the fairing of the Taurus XL failed to separate from the launch vehicle. The rocket also carried three CubeSat satellites. These university satellites include the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory's Explorer-1 PRIME (E1P) developed by students at Montana State University, Kentucky Space's KySat-1 which was developed by multiple Kentucky universities plus several organizations and companies,[20] and the University of Colorado-Boulder's HERMES. This was the first of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions.

On October 28, 2011, three PPODs containing six cubesats were placed into orbit along with the NPOESS Preparatory Project satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. This was the second of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite (ELaNa) missions launched.[21]

On September 13, 2012, eleven CubeSats were launched from eight P-Pods, as part of the "OutSat" secondary payload aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.[22] This is the largest number of CubeSats successfully placed to orbit on a single launch, this was made possible by use of the new NPS CubeSat Launcher system (NPSCuL) developed at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The following CubeSats were placed on orbit: SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker), SMDC-ONE 2.1 (Able), AeroCube 4.0(x3), Aeneas, CSSWE, CP5, CXBN, CINEMA, and Re (STARE). [23]

Five CubeSats (Raiko, Niwaka, We-Wish, TechEdSat, F-1) were placed into orbit from International Space Station on October 4, 2012, as a technology demonstration of small satellite deployment from ISS. They were launched and delivered to ISS as a cargo of Kounotori 3, and the ISS astronaut prepared the deployment mechanism attached to Japanese Experiment Module's robotic arm.[24][25][26]

Four CubeSats were deployed from the Cygnus Mass Simulator, which was launched April 21, 2013 on the maiden flight of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket.[27] Three of them are 1U PhoneSats built by NASA's Ames Research Center to demonstrate the use of smart phones as avionics in Cube Sats. The fourth is a 3U spacecraft, called Dove-1, built by Cosmogia Inc.[28]

Future development [edit]

An example of one of the ELaNa satellites is the University of New Mexico's Space Plug-and-play Architecture (SPA) proof of concept flight for the Trailblazer mission. Trailblazer is a 1U Cubesat to be launched in 2012 under the ELaNa four mission.[29] KickSat is scheduled for launch in mid-2013.[30]

The goal of the QB50 project is to use an international network of 50 CubeSats for multi-point, in-situ measurements in the lower thermosphere (90–350 km) and re-entry research. QB50 is an initiative of the Von Karman Institute and is funded by the European Union. Double-unit ("2-U") CubeSats (10x10x20 cm) are foreseen, with one unit (the 'functional' unit) providing the usual satellite functions and the other unit (the 'science' unit) accommodating a set of standardised sensors for lower thermosphere and re-entry research. 35 CubeSats are envisaged to be provided by universities in 19 European countries, 10 by universities in the US, 2 by universities in Canada and 3 by Japanese universities. 10 double or triple CubeStas are foreseen to serve for in-orbit technology demonstration of new space technologies. All 50 CubeSats will be launched together on a single launch vehicle. The launch is planned for mid-2015.[31] The Request for Proposals (RFP) for the QB50 CubeSat was released on February 15, 2012.

Applications [edit]

Main article: list of CubeSats

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "CubeSat Design Specification Rev. 12". California State Polytechnic University. Retrieved 2010-10-16. 
  2. ^ a b c d Leonard David (2004). "Cubesats: Tiny Spacecraft, Huge Payoffs". Space.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
  3. ^ Rob Goldsmith (October 6, 2009). "Satellite pioneer joins Morehead State's space science faculty". Space Fellowship. Retrieved 2010-09-20. 
  4. ^ a b Leonard David (2006). "CubeSat losses spur new development". Space.com. Retrieved 2008-12-11. 
  5. ^ "Educational Payload on the Vega Maiden Flight – Call For CubeSat Proposals". European Space Agency. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
  6. ^ Matthew Richard Crook (2009). "NPS CubeSat Launcher Design, Process And Requirements". Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  7. ^ Jos Heyman (2009). "FOCUS: CubeSats — A Costing + Pricing Challenge". SatMagazine. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  8. ^ "Cubist Movement". Space News. 2012-08-13. p. 30. "When professors Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic State University and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University invented the cubesat a little more than a decade ago, they never imagined that the tiny satellites would be adopted by universities, companies and government agencies around the world. They simply wanted to design a spacecraft with capabilities similar to Sputnik that graduate student could design, build, test and operate. For size, the professors settled on a 10-centimeter cube because it was large enough to accommodate a basic communications payload, solar panels and a battery." 
  9. ^ "EUROCKOT Successfully Launches MOM – Rockot hits different Orbits". Eurockot Launch Services. Retrieved 2010-07-26. 
  10. ^ a b Tariq Malik (2005). "Europe's Student-Built Satellite Rockets into Space". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  11. ^ Stephen Clark (2009). "Commercial launch of SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket a success". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2010-07-13. 
  12. ^ Stephen Clark (2006). "Russian rocket fails – 18 satellites destroyed". SpaceFlight Now. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
  13. ^ Tariq Malik (2006). "Report: Dnepr Rocket Crashes Shortly After Launch". Space.com. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
  14. ^ Leonard David (2006). "Recent CubeSat Losses Spur Renewed Development". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-07-13. 
  15. ^ "Dnepr LV with 14 satellites on board launched". Space Fellowship. 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-04. 
  16. ^ Jonathan Brown; Riki Munakata (2008). "Dnepr 2 Satellite Identification and the Mk.III P-POD". California Polytechnic State University. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  17. ^ "The ARRL Letter". American Radio Relay League. 2007. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  18. ^ "Delfi-C3 delivered to launch site". Space Fellowship. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-24. 
  19. ^ "SpaceX Sets August 2 for Falcon 1 launch". Reuters. 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2008-12-24. 
  20. ^ "Concept of Operations". Stanford University. 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
  21. ^ NASA (October 2011). "ELaNA-3: CubeSat ELaNa III Launch on NPP Mission". National Aeronautic and Space Administration. Retrieved June 14, 2012. 
  22. ^ Space.com (Sep 2012). "Air Force Launches Secret Spy Satellite NROL-36". Space.com. Retrieved March 21, 2013. 
  23. ^ NRO (June 2012). "NROL-36 Features Auxiliary Payloads". National Reconnaissance Office. Retrieved March 21, 2013. 
  24. ^ Kuniaki Shiraki (March 2, 2011). "「きぼう」からの小型衛星放出に係る技術検証について" [On Technical Verification of Releasing Small Satellites from "Kibo"] (in Japanese). JAXA. Retrieved March 4, 2011. 
  25. ^ Mitsumasa Takahashi (June 15, 2011). "「きぼう」からの小型衛星放出実証ミッションに係る搭載小型衛星の選定結果について". JAXA. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
  26. ^ "「きぼう」日本実験棟からの小型衛星放出ミッション" (in Japanese). JAXA. October 5, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012. 
  27. ^ "Antares Test Launch “A-ONE Mission” Overview Briefing". Orbital Sciences. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  28. ^ "Cosmogia Dove - 1 Orbital Debris Assessment Report". Cosmogia. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  29. ^ Cosmiac.org - Trailblazer
  30. ^ Bruce Dorminey (November 28, 2012). "First Kickstarter Funded Satellites To Launch In 2013". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-11-30. 
  31. ^ "QB50". Von Karman Institute. Retrieved 2009-11-06. 

External links [edit]

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