K Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? - AIAA OC ASAT 2017
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An overview of CubeSats launched since 2015, upcoming launches, interesting applications, enabling technology, and launch options.
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K Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? - AIAA OC ASAT 2017
- 1. What’s New With CubeSats? Karen Grothe, MS Systems Engineer karen@karengrothe.com Website: http://karengrothe.com/
- 2. Overview • The CubeSat Standard • CubeSat launches since 2015 and possible future launches • Interesting applications for CubeSats • Taking the standards even smaller • PocketQube • FemtoSats • New enabling technology • Launch options 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 2
- 3. The CubeSat Standard 1999 • Jordi Puig-Suari and Bob Twiggs defined CubeSat concept • 10 cm / side for standard cube 2003 • First flight – university CubeSats 2006 • First NASA CubeSat – GENESAT 2007 • First CubeSat launched by commercial company (Boeing) 2013 • First USAF SMC CubeSats launched • First PlanetLabs Doves launched 2015 • 101st PlanetLabs Dove launched 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 3
- 4. Launches Since 2015 … and Possible Future Launches Last update: 2017-03-14 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 4
- 5. Who Is Launching CubeSats? Last update: 2017-03-14 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 5
- 6. Upcoming CubeSat Launches 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 6 BIRDS – University Satellites http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/files/BIRDS_Newsletter_Issue_No_13.pdf Lemur 2 Spacecraft (Spire Global) QB50 – Compass 2 https://www.facebook.com/compass.two/photos/a.38096168198932 8.91072.120726071346225/1262112703874217/?type=3&theater https://astrodigital.com/satellites/ Landmapper-BC ASTERIA https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/ missions/asteria.php
- 7. Upcoming CubeSat Launches 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 7 SAMSON A, B, and C http://asri.technion.ac.il/node/219 PicSat https://picsat.obspm.fr/picsat/2017/04/17/deployment-successful/ http://sail.planetary.org/ LightSail 2
- 8. Interesting Applications Earth Observation 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 8 Dove Satellites deploy from the ISS Image: NASA Santa Barbara before (top) and after (bottom) severe rain. Change detection tools can classify severity of changes between the images (right). (Pink represents significant change, yellow shows moderate change and green identifies false change.) https://www.planet.com/pulse/automating-change-detection-with-exogenesis/
- 9. Interesting Applications Improving Weather Prediction 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 9 Lemur 2 [Tyvek] CICERO PlanetiQ 1 CubeSats with GPS Radio Occultation sensors measure how GPS signals are refracted in the atmosphere. From these measurements, scientists can glean information about the temperature, pressure, and moisture at different layers of Earth’s lower atmosphere. The data can then be fed into computer models to provide better weather forecasts.
- 10. Interesting Applications Constellations for Science and Technology Demonstrations 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 10 QBUS 1 (Challenger) InflateSail LituanicaSAT 2 [Vilnius University] [Surrey Space Center] [University of Colorado] BeEagleSat [ITÜ]
- 11. Interesting Applications Interplanetary Missions Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies • Venus • Moon • Asteroids • Mars and moons • Uranus • Jupiter 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 11 LunaH-Map CubeSat Opportunity Payloads (COPINS)
- 12. PocketQubes • Standard cube size: 5 cm per side • 4 launched in 2013 • Launches planned for late 2017 and 2018 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 12 Alba Orbital’s Unicorn-1 2p PocketQube satellite, an ESA mission scheduled to launch in 2018 http://www.pocketqubeshop.com/unicorn-1
- 13. SunCubes (FemtoSats) • Standard size: 3 cm per side • Standard announced by Arizona State Univ. on 4/6/2016 • Standard available online at http://femtosat.asu.edu/ • First launch planned for later this year 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 13
- 14. Enabling Technologies • Propulsion • Deep Space Industries is working on an electrothermal thruster that uses water as a propellant • ECAPS and VACCO have green monopropellant thruster systems • MIT and others have developed ion electrospray propulsion systems • Communications • JPL has developed high gain deployable antennas for 6U CubeSats that are compatible with the DSN • High gain antennae add complexity to deployment and pointing systems, however 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 14
- 15. Launch Options • Secondary payload – deployed on orbit • Cons: Cost, availability (delays) • ISS deployment: > 400 have used so far • Cons: Limited trips to ISS • Smaller launch vehicles • In development: Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, Rocket Lab’s Electron, Vector Space’s Vector-R and Vector-H, Interorbital Systems’ NEPTUNE family, 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 15 Deployment from ISS LauncherOne
- 16. Market Projections from SpaceWorks 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 16 SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc., Copyright 2017
- 17. Summary • The technological landscape of CubeSats continues to evolve. • Launches remains one of the biggest hurdles for CubeSats. • "Even though launch delays continued to have a strong impact on the small satellite market in 2016, this year should set a new record for the number of nano/microsatellites launched with multiple large dedicated rideshare missions. In the future, however, … Introduction of a low cost dedicated small launch vehicle is necessary to ensure regular space access for small satellites.” - Bill Doncaster, SpaceWorks Senior Systems Engineer 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 17
- 18. References • Achieving Science With CubeSats: Thinking Inside the Box, National Academies Press. Free download available at http://nap.edu/23503 • Nanosatellite Database by Erik http://www.nanosats.eu/ • Gunter’s Space Page http://space.skyrocket.de/index.html • CubeSats list on Gunter’s Space Page: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sat/cubesat.htm • “Official Website for BIRDS project: Joint Global Multi Nation BIRDS,” http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/ • “Our Satellites,” Astro Digital https://astrodigital.com/satellites/ • “Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics (ASTERIA): Mission Information,” NASA JPL https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/asteria.php • “Adelis-SAMSON,” Asher Space Research Institute, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, 8/11/2015. http://asri.technion.ac.il/node/219 • “PicSat: A nano-satellite to observe Beta Pictoris,” Observatoire de Paris https://picsat.obspm.fr/picsat/ • The Planetary Society’s LightSail http://sail.planetary.org/ • “Planet Launches Satellite Constellation To Image The Whole Planet Daily,” Robbie Schingler, Planet Blog, 2/14/2017. https://www.planet.com/pulse/planet-launches-satellite-constellation-to- image-the-whole-planet-daily/ 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 18
- 19. References • “NOAA awards first-ever satellite data contracts to private industry,” Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 9/16/2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/09/16/noaa- awards-first-ever-satellite-data-contracts-to-private-industry/ • PlanetiQ Technology http://planetiq.com/index.php/about/technology/ • QB50 CubeSats https://www.qb50.eu/index.php/community • QB50 Mission Objectives https://www.qb50.eu/index.php/project-description-obj/mission-objectives • “LunaH-Map: University-Built CubeSat to Map Water-Ice on the Moon,” NASA, 2/2/2016. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/lunah-map-university-built-cubesat-to-map-water-ice-on-the-moon • “Asteroid Impact Mission: CubeSats,” ESA, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Asteroid_Impact_Mission/CubeSats • “NASA Selects CubeSat, SmallSat Mission Concept Studies,” NASA, 3/22/2017. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-cubesat-smallsat-mission-concept-studies • “Unicorn-1,” Alba Orbital Ltd. http://www.pocketqubeshop.com/unicorn-1 • “The SunCube FemtoSat Platform: A Pathway to Low-Cost Interplanetary Exploration,” presentation at iCubeSat 2016, Jekan Thangavelautham. https://icubesat.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/icubesat- 2016-b-1-3-suncube-thangavelautham.pdf • “Prospector-X: An International Mission to Test Technologies for Asteroid Mining,” Deep Space Industries https://deepspaceindustries.com/prospector-x-an-international-mission-to-test-technologies- for-asteroid-mining/ 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 19
- 20. References • “Cubesat Propulsion Systems Overview,” VACCO Industries http://www.cubesat- propulsion.com/vacco-systems/ • “High Performance Green Propulsion,” Orbital ATK https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense- systems/missile-products/HPGP/default.aspx • “CubeSats Will Take Over the Skies, Thanks to Electric Propulsion,” NASA, 3/14/2016. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/cubesats-will-take-over-the-skies-thanks-to-electric-propulsion • “Interview: Nacer Chahat Designs Antennas For Mars Cubesats,” Mike Szczys, Hackaday, 2/22/2017. http://hackaday.com/2017/02/22/interview-nacer-chahat-designs-antennae-for- mars-cubesats/ • “Launch Woes Diminish Demand for Small Satellites,” Space News, 2/2/2017. http://spacenews.com/launch-woes-diminish-demand-for-small-satellites/ • “ISS Utilization: NanoRacks Logistics Services for Small Satellites and ISS Deployment Systems,” EO Portal Directory, 4/13/2016. https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite- missions/i/iss-nanoracks-services • Virgin Galactic LauncherOne: http://www.virgingalactic.com/satellite-launch/ • Rocket Lab Electron: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/ • Vector Space: https://vectorspacesystems.com/technology/ • Interorbital Systems NEPTUNE: http://www.interorbital.com/interorbital_06222015_012.htm • SpaceWorks 2017 Nano/Microsatellite Market Forecast http://spaceworkseng.com/spaceworks-releases-2017-nanomicrosatellite-market-assessment/ 5/13/2017 K. Grothe - What's New With CubeSats? 20
Editor's Notes
- CubeSats are nanosatellites made up of 10 × 10 × 10 centimeter cubes, one of which is called one unit (1U), typically weighing around 1 kilogram. Larger CubeSats are built by stacking these units. Bob Twiggs (then at Stanford University) developed the initial concept in early 1999 with Jordi Puig-Suari from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and created the specifications. Universities were the first to launch CubeSats, followed by NASA, large commercial companies like Boeing, the military, and startups like PlanetLabs which had launched over 100 3U Earth-imaging CubeSats into Low Earth Orbit by 2015. As we’ll see, PlanetLabs has changed their name to simply “Planet” and launched many more satellites.
- This year: Around 106 nanosatellites launched – including Planet’s flock of 88 launched on 2/15. In addition, 38 CubeSats went to the ISS on 4/15 to be deployed into orbit from there. Facts from www.nanosats.eu site: Facts as of 2017 March 14 Nanosats launched in total: 685 CubeSats launched in total: 613 Nanosatellites in orbit: 405 Operational nanosatellites: 321 Nanosats destroyed on launch: 71 NOTE: “Announced launch year” does not mean that satellite will necessarily launch that year.
- 4 or 5 “BIRD” satellites from Kyushu Institute of Technology, jointly done with students from non-spacefaring nations (Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh) – JAXA or NASA. 2017? Lemur 2 – Spire Global – Weather Satellites – Measure GPS radio occultation – provided to National Weather Service to improve weather predictions. QB50 – 4 2U & 4 3U satellites on a PSLV rocket in India. Compass 2 – DragSail (German – Aachen), Other university satellites from Austria (2U), Belgium (2U), Czech Republic (2U), UK (1 2U, 1 3U), Italy (3U), and Lithuania (3U). Landmapper-BC: 6U imaging satellite from AstroDigital. Scheduled to launch on Soyuz in June. “Landmapper-BC is a constellation of 10 broad coverage satellites that complement the HD sensor. Imaging all agricultural land daily creates deep stacks of pixels for trend detection and identifying change.” “ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) is a technology demonstration and opportunistic science mission to advance the state of the art in CubeSat capabilities for astrophysical measurements.” 6U CubeSat to fly in LEO for exoplanet research. Expected to launch this summer.
- Space Autonomous Mission for Swarming and Geolocation with Nanosatellites (SAMSON) - three 6U nanosatellites from Israel Institute of Technology - two main goals: (1) Demonstrate long-term autonomous cluster flight of multiple satellites; and (2) Determine the position of a cooperative terrestrial emitter based on time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or frequency difference of arrival (FDOA). Additional payloads may include a micro Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) and a new space processor. Summer launch (August?) PicSat is a 3U CubeSat being launched later this year (September?) by the Paris Observatory to observe the transit of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris. LightSail-2: Planetary Society 3U CubeSat with 32 m^2 solar sail. The CubeSat will be deployed from GeorgiaTech’s Prox-1 SmallSat, which will capture images of the deployed solar sail.
- The company Planet, formerly known as “Planet Labs”, launched 88 3U Dove satellites in February aboard a PSLV rocket in India – the largest number of satellites launched on one rocket, giving them the largest constellation of private satellites orbiting Earth totaling 149 satellites. Flock 3p – 13th build – 200 Mbps downlink speed - capable of collecting over 2 million km² per day. This constellation allows Planet to reach their goal of imaging all of Earth’s landmass every day. Images: Santa Barbara before (top) and after (bottom) severe rain. Change detection tools from Exogenesis, an Earth observation and automation analysis company, can classify severity of changes between the images (right). Here, pink represents significant change, yellow shows moderate change and green identifies false change.
- Spire, GeoOptics, PlanetiQ – Weather Lemur-2 is the initial constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites built by Spire. These satellites carry two payloads for meteorology and ship traffic tracking. The Lemur-2 satellites carry two payloads: STRATOS GPS radio occultation payload and the SENSE AIS payload. CICERO (Community Initiative for Cellular Earth Remote Observation) is an array of 24+low-Earth Orbiting (LEO) micro-satellites for performing GPS and Galileo radio occultation (GNSS-RO) of Earth’s atmosphere and surface remote sensing by GNSS reflection. GeoOptics partnered with Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems, to develop the CICERO constellation and JPL to design the smallest, high-quality radio occultation sensor ever developed, called Cion. PlanetiQ - Blue Canyon Technologies of Boulder, Colorado, will build a set of 12 6U CubeSat satellites, each carrying a Global Positioning System radio occultation payload. The satellites will feauture an on-board propulsion, each weighing less than 20 kilograms. The satellites will operate in orbits of 750 to 800 kilometers at an inclination of 72°. PlanetiQ has been separately developing its GPS radio occultation sensor, called Pyxis, that measures signals from all four major GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou) as those signals pass through the atmosphere. Those measurements provide soundings of the atmosphere that can be fed into weather forecasting models.
- QB50’s mission: Facilitating access to space, scientific research, in-orbit technology demonstration, and education. Science experiments – 3 sets of sensors to carry out atmospheric research in the lower thermosphere. Set 1: Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) and Thermistors/thermocouples/RTD (TH) Set 2: Flux-Φ-Probe Experiment (FIPEX) and Thermistors/thermocouples/RTD (TH) Set 3: multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (m-NLP) and Thermistors/thermocouples/RTD (TH) QBUS 1 or Challenger is an US 2U CubeSat designed by the University of Colorado Boulder. The satellite carries the Ion/Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), which measures the mass of ions and neutral atoms. (Sensor Set 1) LituanicaSAT 2 is 3U CubeSat in-orbit technology demonstration mission led by Vilnius University. Three main modules: a science unit with the FIPEX (Flux-Φ-Probe Experiment) sensor (Set 2) for QB50, a functional unit with NanoAvionics Command and Service module plus power unit and an experimental unit with the “green” propulsion system (monopropellant fuel blend developed by ECAPS). InflateSail is a 3U CubeSat built by the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) whose primary objective is the flight demonstration of an inflatable rigidisable sail structure, where the inflation and in-orbit rigidisation uses Cool Gas Generators (CGGs). Has a 1 m long inflatable rigidisable cylindrical boom, which supports approximately a 3m x 3m tape-spring supported sail. BeEagleSat – 2U CubeSat produced by Istanbul Technical University and Turkish Air Force Academy. Sabanci University provided a CdZnTe based semiconductor X-ray detector and associated readout electronics. As a payload for QB50, the satellite carries a multineedle Langmuir probe (mNLP) sampling the electron density of the space around it (Sensor Set 3).
- Interplanetary Missions: The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) will join the Lunar IceCube and Lunar Flashlight 6U-CubeSats in launching on the SLS rocket with Orion EM1 in 2019. Designed to sense the presence of hydrogen in craters and other areas on the moon. Under development at Arizona State University. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/lunah-map-university-built-cubesat-to-map-water-ice-on-the-moon COPINS – Up to 6U (or likely 2 3U) CubeSats will travel as payload on ESA’s Asteroid Impact Mission to the asteroid Didymus in 2020. http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Asteroid_Impact_Mission/CubeSats Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-cubesat-smallsat-mission-concept-studies Venus: CubeSat UV Experiment (CUVE), 12U CubeSat orbiter to measure ultraviolet absorption and nightglow emissions to understand Venus’ atmospheric dynamics. Moon: CubeSat X-ray Telescope (CubeX), 12U CubeSat to map the elemental composition mapping of airless bodies such as the moon, to understand their formation and evolutionary history using X-ray pulsar timing for deep space navigation. Bi-sat Observations of the Lunar Atmosphere above Swirls (BOLAS), tethered 12U CubeSats to investigate the lunar hydrogen cycle by simultaneously measuring electromagnetic fields near the surface of the moon, and incoming solar winds high above. Asteroids: CubeSat Asteroid Encounters for Science and Reconnaissance (CAESAR), a constellation of 6U CubeSats to evaluate the bulk properties of asteroids to assess their physical structure, and to provide constraints on their formation and evolution. Mars: Chariot to the Moons of Mars, 12U CubeSat with a deployable drag skirt to produce high-resolution imagery and surface material composition of Phobos and Deimos, to help understand how they were formed. Aeolus, 24U CubeSat to directly measure vertically-resolved global winds to help determine the global energy balance at Mars and understand daily climate variability. Icy Bodies and Outer Planets (may not be CubeSats): Small Next-generation Atmospheric Probe (SNAP), an atmospheric entry probe to measure vertical cloud structure, stratification, and winds to help understand the chemical and physical processes that shape the atmosphere of Uranus. JUpiter MagnetosPheric boundary ExploreR (JUMPER), a SmallSat to explore Jupiter’s magnetosphere, including characterizing the solar wind upstream of the magnetosphere to provide science context for future missions such as the Europa Clipper.
- Unicorn-1 - Size: 2p (Double PocketQube), 50mm x 50 mm x114mm Mass: 490 grams (approx). 100g available for payload Payload: S-band Inter Satellite Link (ISL) radio
- Applications: Mother-daughter combinations; answering focused science questions; hitching a ride on a larger, more capable spacecraft. Could be used to take spacecraft “selfies” of larger spacecraft, looking for rare phenomena, troubleshooting, asteroid and comet missions (would require reaction wheels to be developed for this size), having many eyes all at once. Interplanetary exploration may be possible in the future, perhaps with a CubeSat sized boost stage. Ideas from presentation at iCubesat 2016: https://icubesat.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/icubesat-2016-b-1-3-suncube-thangavelautham.pdf
- Propulsion Deep Space Industries is working on an electrothermal thruster that uses water as a propellant https://deepspaceindustries.com/prospector-x-an-international-mission-to-test-technologies-for-asteroid-mining/ ECAPS and VACCO have green monopropellant thruster systems http://www.cubesat-propulsion.com/vacco-systems/ https://www.orbitalatk.com/defense-systems/missile-products/HPGP/default.aspx MIT and others have developed ion electrospray propulsion systems https://www.nasa.gov/feature/cubesats-will-take-over-the-skies-thanks-to-electric-propulsion Communications JPL has developed high gain deployable antennas for 6U CubeSats that are compatible with the DSN http://hackaday.com/2017/02/22/interview-nacer-chahat-designs-antennae-for-mars-cubesats/ High gain antennae add complexity to deployment and pointing systems, however
- http://spacenews.com/launch-woes-diminish-demand-for-small-satellites/ NanoRacks deployment from ISS: https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/i/iss-nanoracks-services Virgin Galactic LauncherOne: http://www.virgingalactic.com/satellite-launch/ Rocket Lab Electron: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/ Vector Space: https://vectorspacesystems.com/technology/ Interorbital Systems NEPTUNE: http://www.interorbital.com/interorbital_06222015_012.htm More NewSpace launch vehicles can be found at the Launch Providers tab at the bottom of this webpage: http://www.nanosats.eu/
- Graph source – SpaceWorks 2017 Nano/Microsatellite Market Assessment, linked in this press release: http://spaceworkseng.com/spaceworks-releases-2017-nanomicrosatellite-market-assessment/
- Quote source: http://spaceworkseng.com/spaceworks-releases-2017-nanomicrosatellite-market-assessment/