Author Topic: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology  (Read 175236 times)

Offline jongoff

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Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #260 on: 08/29/2018 09:54 pm »
Smallsats and cubesats for planetary missions BLEO.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/tiny-spacecraft-are-breaking-out-earth-s-orbit

We just presented our paper (mentioned in the depot thread in this NSF category) on using micro depots to enable smallsat launch vehicles to do dedicated deep space launch. I'll link to the article and the writeup in another thread once we've put our finishing touches on it, but it's relevant to this planetary/BLEO smallsats discussion--we were getting results suggesting you could use a LauncherOne (refueled on-orbit with a dry-launched/LEO-fueled storable biprop kick stage) to send an 90-450kg net payload almost anywhere in the inner solar system, out to Jupiter.

~Jon
The alternative to refuelling is to deliver earth departure stage on separate flight, rendezvous in orbit and move satellite to earth departure stage. Mission complexity is not lot different, still need to rendezvous, just trade between swapping fuel and payload(satellite).

If done at an unmmanned robotic station, then robotic capabilities of station could help reduce risk. Checkout the satellite before sending BLEO or do minor repairs. The station would also allow for assembly of satellite, eg add large lite weight solar array built at station.

First, in order to get a full stage in this case, you'd need a much bigger launcher--(LauncherOne payload to LEO is like 475kg, a fully-fueled LauncherOne stage is over 2500kg). Second, I really have a hard time believing swapping stages is going to be easier than propellant transfer. The Russians have been doing non-cryo transfer since long before I was born, and cryo transfer is only a little bit harder, but also rapidly increasing in TRL. But we should probably take more discussions on depots themselves over to the depot thread.

~Jon
« Last Edit: 09/16/2018 05:21 am by jongoff »

Offline TripleSeven

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Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #261 on: 08/29/2018 09:58 pm »
Smallsats and cubesats for planetary missions BLEO.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/tiny-spacecraft-are-breaking-out-earth-s-orbit

We just presented our paper (mentioned in the depot thread in this NSF category) on using micro depots to enable smallsat launch vehicles to do dedicated deep space launch. I'll link to the article and the writeup in another thread once we've put our finishing touches on it, but it's relevant to this planetary/BLEO smallsats discussion--we were getting results suggesting you could use a LauncherOne (refueled on-orbit with a dry-launched/LEO-fueled storable biprop kick stage) to send an 90-450kg net payload almost anywhere in the inner solar system, out to Jupiter.

~Jon

curious...so to do this would the stratolaunch airplane be "better"...two launches at "near the same time" one carries the payload and the other "prop"...or use launcher one and two launches at a short interval?

I am just asking?

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #262 on: 09/13/2018 05:25 pm »
spacenews.com/gapsat-places-geo-smallsat-order-with-terran-orbital/

GEO comms smallsat, no size given but Terran Orbital specialize in 10-100kg cubesat and smallsats. Being delivered direct to GEO by LV, which is unknown at present.

With likes of Made In Space and SSL working ways to add lite weight solar arrays and large radio reflectors in orbit.  Smallsats could make large in roads into GEO market. They are also getting their own range of dedicated LVs from 200-1250kg (LEO) some of which with right 2nd or 3rd stage could deliver few 100kgs direct to GEO.
« Last Edit: 09/13/2018 05:33 pm by TrevorMonty »

Online gongora

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Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #263 on: 09/13/2018 05:34 pm »
spacenews.com/gapsat-places-geo-smallsat-order-with-terran-orbital/

GEO comms smallsat, no size given but Terran Orbital specialize in 10-100kg cubesat and smallsats. Being delivered direct to GEO by LV, which is unknown at present.

It doesn't explicitly say the LV will put it in GEO (it's possible for a larger sat to carry smaller sats to GEO).  If it is going directly to GEO on the LV I'd guess it would be on a Russian rocket?  Who else really offers that?

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #264 on: 09/13/2018 10:21 pm »
spacenews.com/gapsat-places-geo-smallsat-order-with-terran-orbital/

GEO comms smallsat, no size given but Terran Orbital specialize in 10-100kg cubesat and smallsats. Being delivered direct to GEO by LV, which is unknown at present.

It doesn't explicitly say the LV will put it in GEO (it's possible for a larger sat to carry smaller sats to GEO).  If it is going directly to GEO on the LV I'd guess it would be on a Russian rocket?  Who else really offers that?
Here is quote.  After reading it again not quite sure what they mean.

GapSat-1 will launch in the third quarter of 2020 directly into the geostationary arc 36,000 kilometers above the Earth, according to the company.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #265 on: 09/16/2018 01:12 am »


techcrunch.com/2018/09/14/california-is-launching-our-own-damn-satellite-to-track-pollution-with-help-from-planet/?guccounter=1

California state have commissioned pollution detecting 6U? cubesat that Planet will build and operate for them.
Not stated, but Planet may also do data analysis.




Offline TrevorMonty


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #267 on: 11/08/2018 04:06 pm »
Cubesat water tanker demo mission.

spacenews.com/orbit-fab-to-test-refueling-technology-on-iss/

There are a few companies offering thrusters that use water, Tethers Unlimited and DSI to name two. I think both are flight ready if not flying. 

With in orbit refuelling not only can life of cubesat be extended it also opens up more mission options.
1) fly lower giving higher resolution images eg move from 500km to 250km doubles resolution. Cubesat deorbits in months in case of failure not years.
2) retrieval vehicles to remove debris and dead satellites.
3) have tankers stationed at higher orbits eg GTO or EML1 to allow cubesats to go BLEO without requiring much more than 2kms DV.


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #268 on: 12/17/2018 05:31 pm »
Paper on the ALBus 3U demostrator which was on recent Electron launch and little on Mini Xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster that NASA is developing for cubesats.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1031%26context%3Dmcnair&ved=2ahUKEwjWqaq6uqffAhWFfX0KHdJiDScQFjAGegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw3pdJ1zJqvmgJuuFuOQE2BR&cshid=1545070105096

An Investigation of the System Architecture of High Power Density 3U CubeSats Capable of Supporting High Impulse Missions - Scholarly Commons - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
PDFhttps://commons.erau.edu › viewcontent

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #269 on: 01/27/2019 12:31 am »
Steam thruster for Cubesats.

www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2019/01/14/steam-powered-asteroid-hopper-offers-revolutionary-new-way-to-explore-our-solar-system/

The steam thruster from this can be used in Cubesats and Smallsats. DSI now Bradford also steam thruster called Comet.

The WINE concept is cool idea, land on asteriod, extract water then use that for thrust to visit another asteriod. Ideal for exploring bodies like, Phobe and Deimos assuming they have water that can be extracted.
« Last Edit: 01/27/2019 12:44 am by gongora »

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #270 on: 02/15/2019 06:47 pm »


spaceflightnow.com/2019/02/13/cubesat-deployed-from-space-station-to-test-sample-return-technology/

Engineers will have to beef up the heat shield on the TechEdSat satellites to achieve a full re-entry and recovery. The team already has developed an ablative nose for the CubeSat, and is working on a higher-temperature material to protect nanosatellites from the heat of re-entry, Murbach said.

The Exo-Brake technology could be used for “on-demand” sample return from the International Space Station and other orbiting laboratories, according to NASA officials. 


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #271 on: 02/26/2019 04:39 pm »
Global roaming for cell phones using satellite cell towers.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/ubiquitilink-advance-means-every-phone-is-now-a-satellite-phone

Ubiquitilink cubesat allows any phone to communicate with it. Coverage will be limited to txts every so often until constellation expands. (every 55minutes with current demo cubesats ?).

Being able to txt in remote locations is huge plus, all that is needed for hikers and remote sensing equipment.

The biggest plus compared to all the other systems out there is ability to use low cost offshelf cellphones. Lots of constellations lock you into specific ground HW, if satellite company failures your HW is useless. The other plus is ability to start business with handful of cubesats and expand as money allows. 


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #273 on: 04/08/2019 10:22 pm »
More smallsat than cubesat technology.

https://madeinspace.us/press-release-optimastsci

MOFFETT FIELD, CA, April 8, 2019 -- Made In Space, Inc. (MIS) announced today that it is developing an in-space manufacturing system to enable precision long-baseline interferometry missions. This technology, known as Optimast-SCI (Structurally Connected Interferometer) equips an ESPA-class small satellite with the company’s extended structure manufacturing technology. It enables the deployment of a 20-meter optical boom interferometer with modular internal optics bench developed with Lowell Observatory, a world leader in astronomical optical interferometry.



Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #274 on: 05/02/2019 07:55 pm »
Not really cubesat technology but interesting business, which plays in cubesat market.
https://spacenews.com/loft-orbital-fills-first-condosat-preps-for-quarterly-launches/

Loft offer ride to space for hosted payloads in 5-10kg class. You develop the payload and use their interface and they will do rest. Loft only do interface, they use smallsats from varies suppliers and use Spaceflight Industries to help arrange flight. Easy way to get your payload into space, differently lot simpler than developing cubesat. 

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #275 on: 06/02/2019 08:03 pm »


http://parabolicarc.com/2019/06/02/nasa-selects-small-spacecraft-technologies-funding/

"New high-impulse thrusters and communications technologies that will facilitate missions by groups of spacecraft beyond Earth orbit are among the small satellite technologies that NASA is funding under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The space agency selected six research and development projects for SBIR Phase II funding. The awards are for up to $750,000 over two years.

Three of the proposals focus on small satellite thrusters. Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation (AASC) of Oakland, California will continue to develop its high-impulse metal plasma thrusters for use on CubeSat missions."

Here is webpage link and info on AASC metal thruster. Yet another total different thruster technology designed to service Cubesats.

https://applied-sciences-corp.com/mpt-details.html

SIMPLE AND ELEGANT

A design with very few elements - simple and elegant. A Metal Plasma Thruster with a PPU is all. Long life without the traditional need to incorporate tanks, plumbing, liquids, gases nor precision machining into your satellite. Our plasma thruster provides an impulse of 3500 Ns/U, a thrust of 15 uN/W and a specific impulse of 826 s (Pt) up to 2400 s (Al). The propellant can be any solid metal, with Mo/Nb being the typical material.


Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #276 on: 08/02/2019 09:21 pm »
Roccor have range of interesting cubesat products. Deployable booms and antenna, see video on Twitter link. They also do solar panels and radiators.

https://twitter.com/RoccorAerospace/status/1157353556082479104?s=09

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #277 on: 08/04/2019 12:20 am »
A couple of related presentations I've watched from Conference of Smallsats livestream.


The Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission (DeMi) CubeSat: optomechanical design validation and laboratory calibration
https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.02649

"Coronagraphs on future space telescopes will require precise wavefront correction to detect Earth-like exoplanets near their host stars. High-actuator count microelectromechanical system (MEMS) deformable mirrors provide wavefront control with low size, weight, and power. The Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission (DeMi) payload will demonstrate a 140 actuator MEMS deformable mirror (DM) with \SI{5.5}{\micro\meter} maximum stroke. "

The idea is correct for imperfections in telescope mirror system, the magnified light is corrected by Deformable mirror.

The other presentation was call LaserComs? . Not sure of spelling and can't find weblink.
The idea is fly offshelf laser on cubesat and use that as reference to calibrate telescope. The cubesat would be in same viewing window as target exoplanet system. In case of Large UV Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) they would be about 40000kms away and need about 18 cubesats to cover varies targets.
In near term the same cubesats can be used to calibrate earth telescopes.

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #278 on: 08/05/2019 06:18 pm »
The range of thrusters avaliable for cube and smallsats is huge now and growing.
Most of propulsion systems and fuels are inert, posing very low risk to LV. This is especially important for rideshare, which is main means of getting to space. NB most of Electron launches even tend to be rideshares with multiple satellites from different customers.

If you want to be deployed from ISS then choices become lot less, this is where water based thrusters come into their own. Most are totally harmless with cubesat battery being most dangerous item. Dr Sercel of Momentus Aerospace said recently he carried their fully fuelled (water) smallsat on plane without any issues.

Sat search provide list of smallsat components and technologies. Here is sample of there cubesat thrusters.

https://blog.satsearch.co/2019-07-10-cubesat-thrusters-an-overview-of-in-space-propulsion-products-for-small-satellites.html
« Last Edit: 08/05/2019 06:20 pm by TrevorMonty »

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: CubeSat and NanoSat Technology
« Reply #279 on: 10/10/2019 04:59 pm »
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/new-antennas-will-take-cubesats-to-mars-and-beyond

Good article on folding antennas for cubesats.

 Small antennas are limiting factor with cubesats, this is something
Made In Space and Nanoracks want to address by assembling them in space. 3D print antenna in a space station then attach to satellite then test and deploying. Using this approach a cubesat could have ultralight weight antenna with diameter of metres, same applies to solar arrays.

 

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