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Nano and Picosatellites - under development

BITSY

Bitsy is a 1kg nanosatellite bus developed by AeroAstro for the US Air Force.

PICOSAT

Not to be confused with the USAF microsatellite with the same name. A radio amateur constellation of 5kg satellites has been proposed by P.Vekinis KC1QF/EI4GV/SV0GV , and is being studied.

ANISAT

The Universidad Anahuac in Mexico City is in the design phase of the ANISAT nano-satellite. The work is being done by students from the School of Engineering, using the facilities of the Laboratorio Aeroespacial Universidad Anahuac. L.A.U.A. (Anahuac University Aerospace Laboratory) which is also involved in telecommunications and atmospheric sounding studies.

Picosat constellation

Boston University has received a NASA grant to study a pico-satellite constellation.

Pixelsat

NASA is developing a series of "pixelsats", 25mm diameter discs with only 12 transistors, in order to carry out very simple tasks. Swarms of these tiny satellites could be deployed for various measurements requiring large volumes to be covered.

PalmSAT programme

A Picosatellite programme at the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, UK. 

CubeSAT programme

CubeSat is a concept proposed by Robert Twiggs of Stanford University as an inexpensive tool for Student experimentation in space. It was proposed at the University Space Systems Symposium (USSS) in Hawaii in November 1999. Former concepts have always been too expensive, as well as being too lengthy to execute within educational programmes. As well as being cubical in shape, CubeSat stands for S^3-SAT (Student, Space, Study Satellite). The programme is leading to collaboration between educational institutions throughout the US, and even outside in countries such as Canada, Korea and Japan. Internet portals and mailing groups encourage free exchange of information and ideas, to such an extent that some groups can afford to work just in their specialist area, and share designs for the rest of the CubeSat from other groups. A standard set of launch interfaces is specified limiting the spacecraft to approximately 100x100x100mm cube in volume, and 1000g in mass. Students and other participants are encouraged to develop their own designs, but some companies provide suitable building blocks and sub-systems.

 

The Poly Picosat Orbital deployer is a canister developed by OSSS, which allows up to three picosatellites to be deployed. OSSS  procures DNEPR launches, and charges US$50k for launch services, integration and shipping for each CubeSat. First round participants for the May 2002 launch have been charged US$30k. A second launch for November 2002 is planned.

More...
[Stanford Cubesat pages][OSSS website]

 

Participants first launch (originally manifested for May 2002)

 

	1.	Stanford University / SBARC
	2.	Tokyo University More... [University of Tokyo Cubesat project]
	3.	California Polytechnic The PolySAT project. More... [PolySAT at Cal Poly]
	4.	Montana State University
	5.	University of Arizona
	6.	DARTSat DARTSat is a Cubesat project by Dartmouth College. The spacecraft carries amateur VHF receiver, and a 0.5W UHF downlink. More... [Dartsat at Dartmouth College]
	7.	Taylor University physics department TU Sat 1 is a double height Cubesat with four body mounted and two deployable solar panels populated on both sides with solar cells. The spacecraft is designed as an email store-and-forward mission focusing on bringing email communications at 115kbps to portable groundstations in the developing world. In addition the spacecraft will carry a space plasma probe for high energy particle research. The complete spacecraft is expected to weigh 1.5kg and costs US$150k (2001). TU Sat 1 is due for shared launch on a DNEPR in May 2002.
	8.	Tokyo Institute of Technology Cubical TITech Engineering satellite (CUTE) will test out COTS. The spacecraft will measure 100x100x100mm and weigh less than 1kg. Amateur frequencies will be employed with VHF uplink and UHF downlink. Antennas will be deployed using a nylon wire and Nichrome heater like many of the other cubesats. The spacecraft carries an on-board computer based on the Hitachi H8/334Y and a CMOS camera sun-sensor. The spacecraft will measure accelerations using two axis accelerometer, angular rates using 2 axis gyros, and temperatures. A deployable solar panel will be used alongside body mounted panels, populated by a total of eight 60x40mm high efficiency Silicon cells. The panel is deployed via ground command using an on-board DC motor and gear. A Lithium Ion battery will be used. It is due to be launched in May 2002 on a DNEPR. More... [Tokyo Institute of Technology Cubesat project]
	9.	Yamsat A Taiwanese Cubesat project on a US $289,000 budget (NT$10m 2001), being developed by the NSPO. The spacecraft will carry a micro-spectrometer and will be launched on a Russian Denpr booster in May 2002.
	10.	Florida Space Institute
	11.	Leland High school
	12.	Stellar Innovations
	13	Stensat group
	14	Wilcox High school More... [Wilcox High school GoLo Cubesat project, and direct]

 

Participants second launch (originally manifested for November 2002)

	1.	CanX A Cubesat project by University of Toronto, with sponsorship from Altium. More... [UoT Space Flight Laboratory CanX project] References [1] Article, New Electronics 11 June 2002
	2.	Carleton University
	3.	Santa Clara University
	4.	Utah State University/ UBA
	5.	UC of Santa Barbara and JPL The Space Hardening  Inflatable Boom Experiment (SPHINX) is a JPL sponsored mission planned to launch on the May 2002 cubesat launch. It will test the deployment of a 1m inflatable thermoplastic boom, which will harden in the space environment. The boom is deployed using a compressed gas canister. Once set, the first modal frequency response will be measured using an accelerometer and the results are planned to be downloaded within a week. The spacecraft will include a PIC-micro processor and FLASH data recorder. Dipole antennas will be employed, and four D-size primary batteries The University team is mentored by Northrop Gruman and  JPL staff.
	6.	University of Texas Austin Working with the Tethers United Company, One Stop Satellites Solutions, Stanford University and California Polytechnic, the University group will develop two tethered cubesats dubbed APTUS (Applications for tether united satellites). They will be deployed into a 650km orbit inclined at 65 degrees from a shared DNEPR launch scheduled for November 2002. Visual observation of the tether when orbiting at an altitude of 300kg will allow visual observations to be made, and atmospheric densities to be inferred from its curvature. The first satellite will act as the anchor with the tether hanging towards nadir. A GPS receiver will be employed reporting the Cubesat position over an amateur radio intersatellite link to an unnamed third party amateur spacecraft (possibly AO-27). The second cubesat will contain a 3km spool with a tether, a Lithium ion battery, and a stowed spring-loaded parachute. The parachute is not used in its conventional sense, but as a by-product of its deployment the drag of the cube will be dramatically increased thus deploying the tether. In order to bring the tether carrying cubesat down from 650 to 300km altitude, the electro-dynamic effects of forcing a current through the tether whilst moving through the magnetic field is employed, which exerts an accelerating or decelerating force depending on the current polarity. More… References [1] APTUS: Application of Tether United Satellites, Meredith Fitzpatrick, University of Texas at Austin

Others

	1.	AAU CubeSat A CubeSat project by  Aalsborg University Denmark, planning to image the Earth using a 1240x1024 pixel camera with a ground field of view of 100x80km in three colours. The attitude sub-system comprises magnetorquers, a magnetometer and sun-sensors. It is intended to be launched in Q2 2003.  More... [AAU CubeSat]
		Cuesta College More... [Cubesat project]
		SBARASAT More... [Fremont Ca. Amateur radio club  SBARASAT project]
		Ursa Maior A CubeSat programme by the University of Roma "La Sapienza", with a micro-propulsion experiment, Quartz Gyro and Lithium Ion battery. The spacecraft is being developed by 2 postgraduate and 8 undergraduate students.

References
[1] "Beanie Baby" Satellites to Ride Russian Rockets, Spaceviews 20 Nov 2000
[2] U.Arizona Says Space Is A Cube, L.Stiles, 14Dec2000, Space.com, [http://www.spacer.com/news/microsat-00zc.html] 
[3] Cubesats make space personal, Space.com, 8 Nov 2000,  [http://www.spacer.com/news/nanosat-00i.html]

 

Aside from a number of individual nanosatellite developments, two larger programmes are under way to develop nanosatellites. 

UNIVERSITY NANOSATELLITE PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are jointly funding up to 10 research projects centred on the design and demonstration of nanosatellites (sized 1-10 kg). Grants of $50k/year for two years will be awarded to U.S. colleges/universities for design, assembly, and delivery of launch-ready satellites by September 2000. Integration and launch will be provided at no cost to the universities under a matching grant from the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL). Proposals were due by 30 September, 1998. [Ref].

This call led to the funding of the 3-corner satellite constellation (Arizona State University, University of Colorado, and New Mexico State University) and the and ION-F (University of Washington "Dawkstar", University of Utah, and Virginia Polytechnic and state University "HokieSat"). The resulting satellites are now listed under the microsatellite lists as they have ended up well above the 10kg nanosatellite boundary. They will be launched on a future shuttle. More...
[University Nanosat programme]