Cornell University Satellite

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (November 2007)

Cornell University Satellite
[[Image:Cusatlogo.gif|300px|center]]
Type	Satellite
Manufacturer	Cornell University Engineering
Primary users	Cornell University NASA, AFRL, AIAA
Produced	2004-2008
Program cost	$221,250
Variants	CUSAT

The Cornell University Satellite (CUSat) project is a multi-year effort to design, build, and launch an end-to-end autonomous on orbit inspection system. The CUSat system will demonstrate a process through which one satellite can diagnose the structural health and configuration of another; a capability that will benefit commercial, government, and manned space missions envisioned for the coming decades. The space segment consists of two functionally identical satellites that will launch together and separate on orbit in a target-inspector configuration. Once in orbit, CUSat will use microthrust Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPTs) and sub-centimeter level accurate Carrier-phase Differential GPS (CDGPS) to navigate the satellites to within ten meters of each other. The inspector satellite will use cameras to gather imagery of the target satellite while performing relative navigation. Target satellite imagery will be transferred to the ground segment where they will be used to reconstruct a three dimensional model for the end user.

CUSat is part of the University Nanosat-4 Program which aims to educate the future aerospace workforce and develop new space technologies

Contents 1 Operation Details 1.1 Phase One: Launch 1.2 Phase Two: Initialization 1.3 Phase Three: Spacecraft Separation 1.4 Phase Four: Inspection 2 The Team 2.1 Administration 2.2 Technical Backgrounds 2.3 Subsystems 2.3.1 ADCNS 2.3.2 Camera 2.3.3 Command and Data Handling 2.3.4 GPS 2.3.5 Ground Segment 2.3.6 Harness 2.3.7 Industry Relations 2.3.8 Integration and Testing 2.3.9 Mechanical Hardware 2.3.10 Mission Ops 2.3.11 Power 2.3.12 Propulsion 2.3.13 Structures 2.3.14 Survivability 2.3.15 Systems 2.3.16 Telemetry and Command

[edit] Operation Details

[edit] Phase One: Launch

CUSat will launch as a secondary load on a launch vehicle. Once in space and at the correct position, CUSat (space segment) will separate from the launch vehicle where it will begin Phase Two - the initialization.

[edit] Phase Two: Initialization

Once CUSat splits from the secondary launch vehicle and enters the Initialization Phase, it will enter solar illumination where the batteries will begin charging. CUSat's solar panels will store readily available solar energy for future use.

Also in this phase, the ground segment will communicate with the space segment, beaconing its status. Next, CUSat will begin to assess its tumble rates, and will detumble if required.

Once stabilized, CUSat will begin to search for surrounding GPS satellites. A Carrier-phase Differential GPS Lock is then acquired to obtain an accurate attitude reading. Once the attitude reading is confirmed, the satellite will enter Phase Three: Spacecraft Separation.

[edit] Phase Three: Spacecraft Separation

Once an attitude reading is obtained, CUSat's actuators will adjust its attitude for a proper separation.

While still in illumination, CUsat is then able to perform a low-shock separation through the use of a lightband into Top and Bottom satellites. After separation, CUSat enters Phase Four: Inspection

[edit] Phase Four: Inspection

Once separated, the two satellites will perform an orbit checkout procedure to ensure that they are on the right track. Once both Top and Bottom satellites obtain a GPS lock, the relative distance between the two will be calculated via CDGPS.

When the target satellite enters an operational camera's field of view, the inspecting satellite will acquire images of the target satellite. Following, the ground segment will request specific images, which will be subsequently downlinked from the space segment in the next communication opportunity.

In the ground segment, the downlinked data will then be used to construct a 3D image of CUSat to verify the CDGPS data.

[edit] The Team

[edit] Administration

The Principal Investigator for the CUSat project is Dr. Mason Peck. The two advisors for the CUSat project are Dr. Mark Campbell and Dr. Mark Psiaki.

[edit] Technical Backgrounds

Because CUSat is an Engineering Project Team at Cornell University, it is composed of a multitude of different students with a variety of abilities and talents. Team members come from such majors as Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Applied and Engineering Physics, Computer Science, Economics and Management, and even Architecture.

CUSat recruits Cornell students with a good technical background and a strong commitment for work, regardless of their level.

[edit] Subsystems

There has been a major redistribution of work, into different subsystems since FCR. The current Subsystems are listed below.

[edit] ADCNS

The Attitude Determination, Control, and Navigation Subsystem (ADCNS) executes the relative navigation that will be used for CUSat's in-orbit inspection procedures. CUSat will primarily be using three GPS boards for attitude determination. For attitude control, CUSat will be using pulsed-plasma thrusters (PPTs) and torque coils. The software portion of ADCNS will consist of the relative navigation algorithms, which will run the various modes of operation defined by the CONOPs.

[edit] Camera

The camera team is responsible for acquiring images while in orbit, compressing them in a modified JPEG format, and relaying them to the onboard computer, C&DH.

[edit] Command and Data Handling

C&DH is the central hub for communication and computation on the satellite. Using a commercial off the shelf (COTS) single board computer running Windows CE and C++, C&DH will execute the ADCNS algorithms and flight code.

[edit] GPS

The GPS team is responsible for the GPS receivers, antennas and algorithms used to calculate sub-centimeter relative positioning.

[edit] Ground Segment

The Ground Segment is responsible for the ground operations of the satellite, including ground to satellite communication, tracking and commanding.

[edit] Harness

The Harness subsystem is responsible for satellite wiring, the electronics backplane, the electrical interface boards, and any System level electrical concerns.

[edit] Industry Relations

The Industry Relations team is responsible for marketing CUSat and seeking commercial and academic sponsorship. The CUSat Industry Relations lead is OR&IE Junior Rob Nitkin.

[edit] Integration and Testing

The I&T team is responsible for enabling rapid integration and testing of CUSat. I&T is also responsible for testing CUSat in Cornell University's thermal vacuum chamber.

[edit] Mechanical Hardware

The Mechanical Hardware team manufactures the satellite structure and manages the design. The structure includes eight isogrid panels as well as numerous electronics board enclosures.

[edit] Mission Ops

The Mission Ops team defines the detailed, on orbit operations plan for both CUSat satellites. Operating procedures are defined to match with hardware and mission specifications and help ensure successful execution of the mission.

[edit] Power

The power team is responsible for harnessing solar energy, storing it, and distributing it throughout the satellite.

[edit] Propulsion

The propulsion team is responsible for CUSat's pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) which give each satellite three degrees of translational freedom and three degrees of rotational freedom.

[edit] Structures

The structures team is responsible for designing, analyzing, and manufacturing the body of the satellite as well as the logistics of the internal components.

[edit] Survivability

The Survivability team is responsible for analyzing and controlling the satellite's thermal, electrical and vibrational environment on the ground, during launch, and in orbit. Analyzed effects include ESD, atomic oxygen effects, venting and outgassing.

[edit] Systems

The CUSat Satellite project employs Systems Engineering extensively. The Systems group is largely responsible for providing the project with direction by creating top level system requirements, creating best practices, maintaining communications, making design choices, and creating processes for creating a successful product. Each of the subsystem leads also participates as a member of the Systems group, which allows the project to maintain consistency and focus.

[edit] Telemetry and Command

T&C is responsible for intersatellite communications as well as satellite to ground communications. T&C uses modified commercial radios operating in amateur frequency bands to transmit images taken by the satellites to the ground station.