A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** Western University (Canada) and Arizona State teams to collaborate on CubeSat project:

• Western Space teaming with international partners to develop deep space missions – iHeartRadio
• New international partnership launches Western into space – Western News

[On Sept. 23rd] …Western signed a game-changing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the MILO Institute, a non-profit research collaboration led by Arizona State University and supported by Lockheed Martin and its subsidiary GEOshare.

As part of the agreement, [Electrical and computer engineering professor Jayshri] Sabarinathan and her Western Space collaborators will contribute a one-unit CubeSat (a square-shaped miniature satellite roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube) to a MILO Institute and University of Texas at El Paso flight mission planned for June 2021 – an aggressive timeline, she admits, but that just adds to the excitement.

The project will contribute to development of technology for lunar and other deep space exploration.

Sabarinathan is also leading the Western Institute of Earth & Space Exploration team in another CubeSat project:

For the past two years, Sabarinathan and her team have been designing, developing and constructing a CubeSat with research partners at Nunavut Arctic College and Canadensys Aerospace Corporation, scheduled for launch in 2022. Ukpik-1, a two-unit CubeSat project outfitted with 360-degree imaging VR cameras and funded by the Canadian Space Agency, will fly to the International Space Station in two years. Next summer’s ‘bonus’ launch provides the team with an unexpected – but most-opportune – test run for its endeavour.

** Imperial College group delivers miniature magnetometer instrument for ESA RadCube mission to study the solar wind: Imperial completes new space mission instrument despite lockdown challenges – Imperial College London

The RadCube mission is designed to test new technologies for monitoring space weather – the variations in the solar wind coming from the Sun, which can disrupt and damage satellites and infrastructure on Earth.

RadCube is a ‘cubesat’ mission, which are designed to use smaller, cheaper and lower-power components than traditional space missions. The technologies in RadCube, if proven to work well in space, could be used in a range of future missions, such as constellations of multiple cubesats working together to measure the solar wind. CubeSat spacecraft are typically constructed upon multiples of 10 × 10 × 10 cm cubes, and RadCube is made up of three of these base units.

Imperial academics and technicians from the Department of Physics this week delivered a miniature magnetometer to the project in Hungary – an instrument that measures the interactions between the Earth’s magnetic field and that carried by the solar wind, which is a major component of space weather monitoring.

The individual detectors on their instrument – called MAGIC (MAGnetometer from Imperial College) – are less than a millimetre in size, and the total instrument sensor is only four centimetres cubed. This is in comparison to the sophisticated magnetometers the lab builds for large and expensive space missions, such as the recent Solar Orbiter mission and the upcoming JUICE mission, which are much larger and weigh a couple of kilograms.

The MAGIC instrument also uses less than a watt of power, compared to up to 20 watts for the larger instruments. While MAGIC is not as sensitive as these larger instruments, as it is much cheaper to build and uses far less power, the technology could be carried on several spacecraft working in tandem. In this way, the lower-quality data is compensated by a much larger volume of data.

** Update on the UAE MeznSat student satellite: Mini satellite developed by UAE students to launch this month – The National

A miniature satellite developed by university students in the UAE to observe the country’s climate will launch later this month.

MeznSat was funded by the UAE Space Agency and built by engineering and science students at the Khalifa University and American University of Ras Al Khaimah (Aurak).

MeznSat’s initial lift-off was scheduled for the end of 2019, however it was delayed twice and will now blast into the skies on a Soyuz-2b rocket from Russia on September 28.

It is the third miniature satellite – known as a CubeSat – constructed in the Emirates.

See previous postings about the MeznSat project here, here, and here.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects:

ANS-257 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

• Virtual 2020 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting on October 17, 2020
• AMSAT Virtual Symposium Call for Papers
• Preparations Continue for World Radiocommunication Conference 2023
• Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for September 10, 2020
• AMSAT-DL Announces Virtual Satellite Symposium September 26, 2020
• AMSAT-UK Announces Colloquium 2020 October 11, 2020
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• ARISS News
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts from All Over

ANS-264 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

• AMSAT Board of Directors Elections Results
• July/August AMSAT Journal Is Now Available
• RAC Canada 2020 Conference and AGM is this Sunday
• AO-7 Approaching Return To Full Illumination
• Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
• Ham Radio Club Talk Collection On YouTube
• ARISS News
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

• News, articles, resources, etc:
• CU Aerospace | Space Propulsion – Maker of “high-performance, and compact small-satellite propulsion solutions”.
  • “Space 2.0” and the problem of orbital debris – OpenAccessGovernment.org
• Hemeria seeks niche in microsat manufacturing – SpaceNews
• Blue Canyon Technologies Provides Key Hardware for Fifth Consecutive AIAA/USU Small Satellite of the Year Award Winner – Blue Canyon
• Dragonfly Aerospace keeping the South African space dream alive – defenceWeb
• Taipei, Prague can be partners on space tech – Taipei Times
• UK-built nanosatellites ready for take off – GOV.UK
• Projects:
  • Spire adding cross links to cubesat constellation – SpaceNews
  • Lockheed Martin to Build 10 Small Satellite Mesh Network in Two Years – Lockheed Martin
  • Back to space: in 2024 Politecnico di Milano will take part to the first planetary defense mission | EurekAlert! Science News
  • OHB to build ESA’s Hera asteroid mission – SpaceNews
  • Exolaunch To Handle NetSat Smallsat Formation Launch – SatNews
    • NetSat – Pioneering Research in Formation Control
  • Momentus Space To Issue Into Orbit LunaSonde’s Smallsat – SatNews

** Sierra Foothills ARC August 2020: Cubesats! The story of the ASU Phoenix Cubesat project

The Sierra Foothills ARC was privileged to have Devon KM6MDG and Trevor KM6MDH talk about their work on the Phoenix Cubesat, AzTechSat-1. The two are graduate students at Arizona State University, and were involved with the program from shortly after conception, through deployment from the International Space Station, to operation afterward. In their talk, they review the objectives of the satellite, talk about its construction and their roles and challenges, and detail its current status.

** Welcome to the Space and Satellite Systems Club [at UC Davis]

The Space and Satellite Systems Club at UC Davis is the premiere space-based engineering club on campus. Our efforts are focused towards developing the skills and technical know-how necessary to design spacecraft by developing, manufacturing, and launching a CubeSat mission to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The club focuses on technologies for smaller spacecraft and cube satellites and covers a wide range of research areas from controls and dynamics to sensors, electronics and software. We are currently set to launch our first CubeSat (REALOP) later in 2021. This mission will be a technical demonstration of our in-house developed bus and technological components, the payload on the will serve as an earth sciences mission that will utilize IR and RGB cameras to study the thermal activity of the Earth’s atmosphere from LEO.

** The MILO Space Science Institute: Enabling New, Science-Focused Deep Space Smallsat Missions – The Global Virtual Workshop I – Stardust-R

** ISS International Space Station Cross Band FM Repeater – Tech Minds

Here we take a look at the brand new FM Repeater on board the International Space Station, launched on the 2nd September 2020.

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Orbit Design, Debris Impact, and Orbital Decay Prediction

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** USC student team comes out on top in AIAA smallsat competition: USC Wins First Place in the AIAA Small Satellite Student Competition – USC Viterbi School of Engineering

A team of students from the USC Laboratory for Exploration and Astronautical Physics (LEAP), including Robert Antypas and Jeffrey Asher, doctoral students in the Viterbi Department of Astronautical Engineering. The students are working to optimize the design of ionic electrospray thrusters, in-space propulsion devices, in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). These thrusters are small, light and powerful, easy to construct and customizable. These unique aspects contributed to the team winning first place in the AIAA Small Satellite Poster Competition. The students were supervised by Joseph Wang, professor of astronautics and aerospace and mechanical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Said Asher: “Unlike traditional electric or chemical propulsion technologies, these thrusters are able to scale linearly with the area by increasing the number of emission sites.” In other words, you can increase the level of thrust outputted by increasing the number of emitter tips on the device, a feature not currently possible on other types of propulsion technologies.

“The ionic electrospray thruster the team created is an electrostatic propulsion device that operates by extracting and accelerating ions from the propellant using an electric field. The ion extraction is aided by the thruster’s use of a novel liquid propellant, called an ionic liquid. This liquid is highly conductive and freely “gives up” its charge when exposed to an electric field. It also has extremely low vapor pressure, so that it can withstand being directly exposed to the vacuum conditions of space without evaporating.” – USC

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects:

ANS-243 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

• AMSAT Member David Minster, NA2AA, Elected ARRL CEO
• Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU, Joins Starliner Mission To ISS
• ANS Editors Wanted
• CubeSat Challenge Seeks To Inspire, Prepare Students
• Amateur License Fee Proposal From FCC
• AO-92 (FOX-1D) Reverting to Safe Mode
• GRBAlpha Frequency Coordination Completed
• ARISS News
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-250 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

• ARISS First Element of the Interoperable Radio System is Operational
• FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Proposal open for comment
• Successful Vega Mission Launches the Amicalsat Project Satellite
• TEVEL Mission Nears Projected Launch Date
• Changes to the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for September 3, 2020
• VUCC Satellite Awards and Endorsements
• ARISS News
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

• News, articles, resources, etc:
  • 2020 Satellite Innovation Virtual – Oct. 6-8, 2020. Agenda
  • Space BD to provide the Small Satellite deployment service from ISS to E+CRAFTMAN and Hokkaido University of Science – Space BD
  • Satellites… the Technology Letdown of the 21st Century? How to Prevent that from Occuring… By Tim Arnold, Vice President of Corporate Development, Cytta Corporation/SatMagazine
  • Plasma propulsion for small satellites – ESA
  • Morpheus Space Backed by Industry Leaders to Revolutionize In-Space Mobility | by Morpheus Space | Aug, 2020 | Medium
  • Momentus Awarded NASA TROPICS Pathfinder Mission – Momentus PR
  • Vega return to flight proves new rideshare service – ESA – 53 smallsats launched
  • Photonics Digital Forum: high rate communication payload for Cubesats – SPIE Optics
• Projects:
  • Belgian Nanosatellite Carries Finland’s Remote Sensing Technology To Space | Science Times
  • Viasat readies a small satellite that promises to be a game-changer in military communications – Inside Viasat
  • Kepler signs launch agreement with Exolaunch – SpaceNews
  • Capella Space’s first SAR imagery satellite launches – c4isrnet.com
  • Kuwait’s Orbital Space fast-tracks CubeSat launch – SatellitePro ME

** Autonomous deep-space CubeSat: where we are and where we are going – GVWI (The Global Virtual Workshop I – Stardust-R)

** Educational webinars – Session A – Build a Cubesat from scratch – SatRevolution

SatRevolution is happy to invite you to a series of informational sessions (only 30 minutes long!), organized by our team and the team of our partners. This webinars has been recorded during Small Sat Conference 2020 this is way session is different in title and during webinars record. For more infromation please visit our website: https://satrevolution.com/

** Ask NMD Episode 1 – Guest, Prof. Jordi Puig-Suari – Nanosatellite Missions Design

Prof Jordi Puig-Suari is a professor and an aerospace technology developer. He is the co-inventor of the CubeSat standard, and co-founder of Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. Prof. Jordi answered 2 questions from the many questions you asked us. The questions were “How did Cubesats begin” and “What is the relationship and collaboration between robotics, AI, software and space exploration”.

** SmallSat Mesh Networking – SmallSat 2020 Webinar – TethersUnlimited – YouTube

** Leveraging the Success of the CubeSat Standard to Create a SmallSat Standard for ESPA Spacecraft – Enrico Congiu – YouTube

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Orbit Design, Debris Impact, and Orbital Decay Prediction

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** Two CubeSats deployed this week from the ISS: Spacewalk Preps, Satellite Deployment During Bone and Heart Research – Space Station/NASA

A pair of microsatellites were deployed into Earth orbit today outside Japan’s Kibo laboratory module. The Deformable Mirror CubeSat will demonstrate the performance of a tiny but powerful exo-planet telescope. The TechEdSat-10 CubeSat will test returning small payloads safely into Earth’s atmosphere.

The CubeSats were launched to the ISS on a Northrop-Grumman Antares rocket in a Cygnus cargo vehicle on February 15th of this year.

TechEdSat-10 is the latest CubeSat sponsored by the NASA Ames Technology Education Satellite (TechEdSat) program. This spacecraft was developed in collaboration with student teams at San Jose State University and the University of Idaho. The primary goal of the mission is to test technologies for low cost return of small payloads from orbit. The CubeSat will deploy a Exo-Brake, which is

a tension-based, flexible braking device resembling a cross-parachute that deploys from the rear of a satellite to increase the drag. It is a de-orbit device that replaces the more complicated rocket-based systems that would normally be employed during the de-orbit phase of re-entry.

The TecEdSat-10 mission will

… further develop the tension-based drag device (an ‘Exo-Brake’) and demonstrate frequent uplink/downlink control capability. In addition, the Exo-Brake is modulated in order to change the drag profile and then permit, for the first time, a targeting experiment. TechEdSat-10 is sized at a scale of 3 m, which permits re-entry within 4 weeks at a ßof ~5 kg/m². Understanding the thermophysics of such a device permits it to be scaled for larger payloads and re-entry within 1.5 days.

Targeting would allow the brake to return a payload to a specific area for ease of recovery.

The Deformable Mirror CubeSat (DeMi) project is an MIT project sponsored by DARPA. Deformable mirrors are used in ground-based telescopes to cancel out distortions in stellar images caused by variations in atmospheric density, temperature, etc. For observatories in orbit, there is no atmosphere to deal with but there are various structural and optical flaws,  small strains from temperature changes, etc. The goal for this mission is to demonstrate that such imperfections can be compensated for with a deformable mirror in a space telescope.

In order to image an Earth-like planet, an exoplanet direct imaging system needs to achieve a contrast ratio of 1 × 10E−10. Even with adaptive optics on a large ground-based telescope, it is currently not possible to overcome the effects from atmospheric turbulence to achieve the high contrast needed to obtain high-resolution spectra of an Earth-like exoplanet. While a space telescope does not have to overcome the effects of atmospheric turbulence, achieving a clear image usually comes at the expense of smaller aperture size (e.g., due to launch cost and launch vehicle limitations). The performance of a space telescope will still suffer from optical imperfections, thermal distortions, and diffraction that will corrupt the wavefront, create speckles, and ruin the contrast. High actuator-count deformable mirrors have the authority to correct high spatial frequency aberrations that would otherwise degrade the contrast in these conditions.

Deformable Mirror CubeSat (DeMi) serves as an on-orbit testbed for a MEMS deformable mirror. The baseline deformable mirror payload architecture incorporates a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for mirror characterization as well as a focal plane sensor for correcting an image of an external object. DeMi characterizes the on-orbit performance of a 140 actuator MEMS deformable mirror with 5.5 μm maximum stroke. The goal is to measure individual actuator wavefront displacement contributions to a precision of 12 nm. …

The ultimate goal is to enable space telescopes to image exoplanets directly:

Current space telescopes have limited ability to detect and distinguish small, dim objects such as exoplanets that are next to large, bright objects such as stars. MEMS deformable mirror technology can improve the imaging capabilities of future space telescopes.

Aurora Flight Sciences is managing the project and Blue Canyon Technologies built the spacecraft.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-194 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

• AMSAT Leadership Explains 2018-2020 Legal Expenses
• Update on HO-107 (HuskySat-1)
• AMSAT-DL Proposes LunART – Luna Amateur Radio Transponder
• Buffalo Soldiers Special Event on the Satellites
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Upcoming ARISS Contacts
• Satellite Shorts from All Over

** AMSAT arose from the HAM radio community and many educational and science related smallsats use amateur radio bands for communications. This article doesn’t include anything on AMSAT or amateur radio via satellites but it does give a good overview of the state of amateur radio globally: The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio – IEEE Spectrum.

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

• News & Resources:
  • SatRevolution Announces Innovative Earth-observation Shared Services Mission for mid-2021 – SatRevolution
  • New COVID-19 Norms Foster Agile SmallSat Innovation – The Aerospace Corporation
• Projects:
  • NOVA – A Crowd-Flyable Space Mission! by EXODUS ORBITALS — Kickstarter
  • Orbital Micro Systems’ IOD-1 GEMS Satellite Celebrates First Year in Orbit – OMS/Digital Journal

**  Building a CubeSat for less than $1000 — Part 3 — Avionics Schematic – Third episode in a series from RG SAT on how to build a low cost CubeSat.

Today I cover the schematic I created for the Avionics board of the Cubesat. The Avionics board essentially serves as the main computer for the Cubesat, including control of the Attitude Control System, and radio communications.

** CanSat, A CubeSat learning kit Made in India – World CanSat & Rocketry Championship – YouTube

A World CanSat/Rocketry Championship (hereinafter: WCRC) is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations (as university student Teams or as independent student Teams), and winning this event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in this field. The WCRC was formulated and negotiated among the Organizations from 6 countries: Serbia, India, Italy, Tunisia, Canada, and Peru (hereinafter: Founders) from October.

** Tracking CubeSats with a Telescope – Bruce Van Deventer – YouTube

CubeSats are miniature satellites typically deployed into low earth orbit. A standard 1U CubeSat is a cube ten centimeters on a side. Here, I tracked three different CubeSats on the night of 6/17 at our dark site observatory. Tracking is performed blind, meaning there is no optical assist to help the telescope point to the target. These videos are shot using a Celestron RASA 11 telescope and the ZWO ASI 6200 mono camera, operated in 8 bit video mode, quarter frame size, 100ms exposure. That video is further cropped here to make it easier to find the satellite.

** Dove Satellite – Observing Earth With A Cubesat –

I paid a visit to Planet, they’re one of my ‘neighbours’ in San Francisco’s SOMA district. Their business is planetary imaging and they’ve launched over 100 Dove Cubesats which are built around the largest possible camera you can fit in a cubesat.

** Aerospace CubeSats Blaze a Faster Trail to Space | The Aerospace Corporation

The challenge: Build and launch a pair of cube satellites on a tight budget and even tighter timeline. Here is how Aerospace engineers designed the Aerospace Rogue Alpha/Beta CubeSats as pathfinders for studying rapid reconstitution.

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Orbit Design, Debris Impact, and Orbital Decay Prediction

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** Univ. of New Hampshire students to built CubeSat to study Earth’s upper atmosphere:  UNH Space Science Center offers out of this world experience – Univ. of New Hampshire

Scientists from the University of New Hampshire’s Space Science Center will use a $4.6 million grant from NASA to create a project that will offer a diverse group of college students from across the country hands-on research experience designing and building small satellites that will be launched into outer space and collect data for one of NASA’s space missions.

The Student Collaboration Project, led by Noé Lugaz, a research associate professor of physics, aims to work in conjunction with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission and build off of the collected data to provide firsthand research experience for undergraduate and graduate students and help to diversify the field of space science.

“We’re missing out on so much potential with great people out there,” said Lugaz. “Most science projects are publicly funded, and we want to expand access to college students who are qualified and have a passion for science to get involved, no matter what their major. We are hoping to inspire them, even if it’s just for one year. We think we can really start to make a difference.”

Project coordinators will recruit the first group of students from three universities–UNH, Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Sonoma State University in California. During the five-year project, students from each university will design and build a CubeSat–a small satellite the size of a half-gallon of milk–that will have an instrument that can quantify the concentration of oxygen in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and provide scientists with clues about the effects of the solar wind. This is the region where many satellites are located and knowing more about the atmosphere’s density could help determine their orbit and lifetime.

…

The student built CubeSats will launch in 2024 separately from the main IMAP mission but at the same time in order to collect complementary data. The CubeSats will be in space for about four months and will be located much closer to the Earth than the other IMAP instruments.

** Technical Univ. of Budapest SMOG/P/ATL-1 picosats measure spectra usage globally.

Its 6 months since the launch of Alba Cluster 2, and the first data from the SMOG-P/ATL-1 mission has been published. The PQs flew tiny spectrum analyzers to build up a global map of spectrum usage. The team have created a dynamic map you can explore https://t.co/Mg1fhXCWWo pic.twitter.com/HN48NEwFgm

— Alba Orbital (@AlbaOrbital) June 8, 2020

The pocketqube style satellites were launched in Dec. 2019 along with four other picosats on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket and ejected into orbit via a deployer from Alba Orbital.

See also SMOG-P (MO-105) and ATL-1 (MO-106) – CubeSat and LEO Satellites – AMSAT Deutschland e.V. Forum.

** RamSat built by Oak Ridge Tennessee middle school students to go to the ISS in the autumn:  For members: RMS satellite scheduled to launch in September – Oak Ridge Today

The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch on a resupply rocket to the International Space Station in September, and it could be deployed into orbit a few hundred miles above Earth in October.

Testing of the satellite and its components, including a battery test and vibration tests, was scheduled to start this week.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects:

ANS-152 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin:

• Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL Field Day
• IARU-R2 Workshop Videos Available
• Digital Mode Experiments Conducted on Linear Satellites
• SpaceX Launches Successfully Toward ISS
• Moonbounce Contact via FT8 Could be a First
• Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1
• ARISS News
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-159 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin:

• Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available
• Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Team in the United States Creates a New Organization: ARISS-USA
• AMSAT President’s Statement on Creation of ARISS-USA
• Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal Available to AMSAT Members
• AO-73 Now in Full-Time Transponder Mode
• VUCC Awards-Endorsements for June 2020
• KG5FYJ Assigned to Upcoming ISS Mission
• A New Way to Obtain GP Data (aka TLEs)
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Satellite Shorts from All Over

See also:

•  ANS-153 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin – Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available
• 2020 Edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites – Digital Download – AMSAT

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

• News & Resources:
  • Russian space firm to team up with Japanese company in satellite production and export -TASS
  • Space BD successfully launched its payload, SATLANTIS’ iSIM to the International Space Station via HTV9 – Space BD
  • Momentus signs contract with OrbAstro for SpaceX rideshare flight – SpaceNews.com
  • Preparations resume for Vega’s upcoming mission with 53 small satellite passengers – Arianespace
    • Arianespace return to Vega launch preparations following two month pause – NASASpaceFlight.com – “VV16 will launch 53 smallsats into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit for 21 customers. These spacecraft are to serve various applications, which include Earth observation, telecommunications, science, technology, and education.“
• Projects:
  • Exoplanet Hunting with CubeSats – Centauri Dreams
    • Demonstrating high-precision photometry with a CubeSat: ASTERIA observations of 55 Cancri e, Knapp M. et al – arxiv.org
  • Nanosatellite with global mission tested for space – ESA
  • Russian Nuclear Physicists Propose Using Lasers to Search for Life in Our Solar System – Sputnik International – “A specialized, very small measuring instrument has been prepared for launch aboard either a cubesat 1U (i.e. 10x10x10 cenimeters) or 2U (10x10x20 cm), Panasyuk says, with the apparatus expected to contain some biological objects, most likely algae, through which it will be possible to test out the technology.“
  • NetSat – A Four Nano-Satellite Formation Flying Mission
    • Self-Organizing Smallsats to Form the First 3D Formation – Satnews
  • RainCube: the first ever radar measurements from a CubeSat in space – SPIE
    • SPIE Journal of Applied Remote Sensing honors best papers – EurekAlert!

• • Coast Guard Auxiliary Supports Research Efforts – MarineLink – “As part of the DHS Science & Technology Polar Scout CubeSat project, the RDC constructed a satellite ground station in Fairbanks, Alaska. This labor-intensive effort required the construction of an 18-foot radome structure. The successful completion on this ground station provided a valuable resource for the Coast Guard and DHS while testing CubeSat technology in support of Arctic search and rescue.“

** Smallsat built at UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy to fly on next Rocket Lab Electron launch:

The next mission from #UNSWCBR Space, M2 Pathfinder, is launching on @RocketLab‘s Mission 12 “Don’t Stop Me Now” on June 11.

M2PF is a significant next step in flight heritage for our program of developing intelligent space systems and the development of Australian capability. pic.twitter.com/dseWRUzhzP

— UNSW Canberra (@UNSWCanberra) May 29, 2020

**  NASA STEM Stars: CubeSats

“NASA STEM Stars” is a web-chat series that connects students with subject matter experts to learn about STEM careers and ask questions about STEM topics. This week, “NASA STEM Stars” is joined by aerospace engineer Allison Evans, who specializes in CubeSats. Learn about her path to NASA and how she ended up building and testing spacecraft the size of a loaf of bread.

** Hiber smallsat constellation will provide IoT services for a diversity applications such as assisting beekeepers:

** 1st “Make Space Boring” virtual conference – Jason Kanigan – Lowering the 40%+ Smallsat Failure Rate – Cold Star Technologies – YouTube

Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech speaks at the first “Make Space Boring” virtual conference. His topic is lowering the awful 40%+ partial plus full mission failure rate of small satellites.

** Building small satellite/cubesat missions in Indian universities

What goes into building a cubesat program at a university? What are the difference between university teams trying to build satellites in India against US? How can we improve the overall ecosystems in academia to build more student missions in India? Here are some great insights from Sharan. NewSpace India Episode 25 June 5, 2020

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