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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2020

Passive Thermal Coating Observatory Operating in Low-Earth Orbit (PATCOOL) – Cubesat Design to Test Passive Thermal Coatings in Space

The PATCOOL is a NASA sponsored, University of Florida developed 3U Cu-beSat meant to investigate the feasibility of using a cryogenic selective surface coating as a new, more efficient way of passively cooling components in space. Initial tests on the ground demonstrate that this coating should provide a much higher reflectance of the Sun’s irradiant power than any existing coating, while still providing far-infrared power emission. The ultimate validation of this tech-nology requires on-orbit testing. PATCOOL hosts a 4-sample housing, with the samples shaped as thin cylinders (coin-like). Two samples are coated with state-of-the-art material, while the other pair uses the new coating to be evaluated. The temperatures of all samples during the mission (minimum 72 hours of data col-lection) are measured via thermistors. The samples are connected via thin Kevlar strings to the housing, to minimize heat transfer. The housing is designed to shield the samples from Earth’s thermal radiation, and the CubeSat is attitude stabilized and controlled via a gravity gradient boom, magnetorquers and a reaction wheel set. Thermal Desktop simulations show PATCOOL’s ability to thermally isolate the samples from heat exchanges other than with Sun and deep space, thanks to its thermal design and the chosen attitude profile.

Ojeda, Carlos↗
NASA NTRS2023

Tsunami Early-Warning CubeSat Design Reference Mission (DRM)

Global constellation for near real-time detection, characterization, and warning of dangerous tsunami; detection and evaluation of large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and study and continuous monitoring of the ionosphere and climate change.

Tsunami, GNSS-R, CubeSats, Ionosphere, Climate Cha↗
NASA NTRS2016

NASA's Space Launch System: A New Opportunity for CubeSats

Designed for human exploration missions into deep space, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) represents a new spaceflight infrastructure asset, enabling a wide variety of unique utilization opportunities. Together with the Orion crew vehicle and ground operations at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SLS is a foundational capability for NASA's Journey to Mars. From the beginning of the SLS flight program, utilization of the vehicle will also include launching secondary payloads, including CubeSats, to deep-space destinations. Currently, SLS is making rapid progress toward readiness for its first launch in 2018, using the initial configuration of the vehicle, which is capable of delivering 70 metric tons (t) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). On its first flight, Exploration Mission-1, SLS will launch an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft into distant retrograde orbit around the moon. Accompanying Orion on SLS will be 13 CubeSats, which will deploy in cislunar space. These CubeSats will include not only NASA research, but also spacecraft from industry and international partners and potentially academia. Following its first flight and potentially as early as its second, which will launch a crewed Orion spacecraft into cislunar space, SLS will evolve into a more powerful configuration with a larger upper stage. This configuration will initially be able to deliver 105 t to LEO and will continue to be upgraded to a performance of greater than 130 t to LEO. While the addition of the more powerful upper stage will mean a change to the secondary payload accommodations from Block 1, the SLS Program is already evaluating options for future secondary payload opportunities. Early discussions are also already underway for the use of SLS to launch spacecraft on interplanetary trajectories, which could open additional opportunities for CubeSats. This presentation will include an overview of the SLS vehicle and its capabilities, including the current status of progress toward first launch. It will also explain the opportunities the vehicle offers for CubeSats and secondary payloads, including an overview of the CubeSat manifest for Exploration Mission-1 in 2018.

Hitt, David↗
NASA NTRS2016

Attitude Control System Design for CubeSats Configured with Exo-Brake Parachute

This paper develops a novel attitude control strategy for an Earth orbiting CubeSat spacecraft by utilizing the exo-brake parachute to modulate the atmospheric drag forces as a source of attitude control authority, enabling orbital exo-sail maneuvers. In particular, the spacecraft attitude controls can be realized through the two dimensional exo-sail maneuvers in pitch and yaw directions. The uncertain atmospheric drag induced disturbance torque is estimated through an adaptive parameter estimation process which makes use of the adaptive least-squares minimization techniques. The covariance updating law with a variable forgetting factor is adopted and it can be shown that the convergent rate for the estimation errors can be chosen at the same level as the forgetting factor, in order to meet the design needs. The proposed approach is best suited for Earth orbiting micronano-satellite applications, which are configured with exo-brake parachute. With integration of exo-sail actuation mechanism and disturbance estimation, we demonstrate through simulations that exo-sail induced control torque for CubeSat attitude maneuver is feasible.

Disturbance estimation↗
NASA NTRS2015

Cubesat Constellation Design for Air Traffic Monitoring

Suitably equipped global and local air traffic can be tracked. The tracking information may then be used for control from ground-based stations by receiving the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) signal. The ADS-B signal, emitted from the aircraft's Mode-S transponder, is currently tracked by terrestrial based receivers but not over remote oceans or sparsely populated regions such as Alaska or the Pacific Ocean. Lack of real-time aircraft time/location information in remote areas significantly hinders optimal planning and control because bigger "safety bubbles" (lateral and vertical separation) are required around the aircraft until they reach radar-controlled airspace. Moreover, it presents a search-and-rescue bottleneck. Aircraft in distress, e.g. Air France AF449 that crashed in 2009, take days to be located or cannot be located at all, e.g. Malaysia Airlines MH370 in 2014. In this paper, we describe a tool for designing a constellation of small satellites which demonstrates, through high-fidelity modeling based on simulated air traffic data, the value of space-based ADS-B monitoring and provides recommendations for cost-efficient deployment of a constellation of small satellites to increase safety and situational awareness in the currently poorly-served surveillance area of Alaska. Air traffic data has been obtained from the Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET), developed at NASA Ames Research Center, simulated over the Alaskan airspace over a period of one day. The simulation is driven by MATLAB with satellites propagated and coverage calculated using AGI's Satellite ToolKit(STK10).

cubesats↗
NASA NTRS2016

What's the Cube Quest Challenge?

Cube Quest Challenge, sponsored by Space Technology Mission Directorates Centennial Challenges program, is NASAs first in-space prize competition. Cube Quest is open to any U.S.-based, non-government CubeSat developer. Entrants will compete for one of three available 6U CubeSat dispenser slots on the EM-1 mission the first un-crewed lunar flyby of the Orion spacecraft launched by the Space Launch System in early 2018. The Cube Quest Challenge will award up to $5M in prizes. The advanced CubeSat technologies demonstrated by Cube Quest winners will enable NASA, universities, and industry to more quickly and affordably accomplish science and exploration objectives. This paper describes the teams, their novel CubeSat designs, and the emerging technologies for CubeSat operations in deep space environment.

Cube Quest Challenge↗
NASA NTRS2020

CubeSat Array for Detection of RF Emissions from Exoplanets using Inter-Satellite Optical Communicators

We are presenting a CubeSat mission concept wherein a large number of small spacecraft furnished with Ultra-Long Wavelength (ULW) observation antennas is to be implemented to synthesize a large aperture for detecting ULW emissions from selected exoplanets. The CubeSat Array for the Detection of RF Emissions from Exoplanets (CADRE) concept involves the placement of a swarm arrangement of CubeSats into small amplitude Lissajous orbits around the Earth-Moon L2 point. In addition to the ULW receivers, each CADRE CubeSat will be furnished with a novel omnidirectional optical communicator which should allow data sharing at gigabit per second data rates. In this paper we discuss the science goals, potential architecture and key technical challenges of an eventual CADRE implementation. We present the estimated interferometer specifications needed to detect Exoplanet RF emissions, CubeSat orbits and formations as well as CubeSat design considerations. Special focus is placed on the design of the mission-enabling inter-CubeSat optical cross link which allows for fast sharing of the detected RF signals for subsequent correlation.

Bentum, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2014

CubeSat Material Limits For Design for Demise

The CubeSat form factor of nano‐satellite (a satellite with a mass between one and ten kilograms) has grown in popularity due to their ease of construction and low development and launch costs. In particular, their use as student led payload design projects has increased due to the growing number of launch opportunities. CubeSats are often deployed as secondary or tertiary payloads on most US launch vehicles or they may be deployed from the ISS. The focus of this study will be on CubeSats launched from the ISS. From a space safety standpoint, the development and deployment processes for CubeSats differ significantly from that of most satellites. For large satellites, extensive design reviews and documentation are completed, including assessing requirements associated with reentry survivability. Typical CubeSat missions selected for ISS deployment have a less rigorous review process that may not evaluate aspects beyond overall design feasibility. CubeSat design teams often do not have the resources to ensure their design is compliant with reentry risk requirements. A study was conducted to examine methods to easily identify the maximum amount of a given material that can be used in the construction of a CubeSats without posing harm to persons on the ground. The results demonstrate that there is not a general equation or relationship that can be used for all materials; instead a limiting value must be defined for each unique material. In addition, the specific limits found for a number of generic materials that have been previously used as benchmarking materials for reentry survivability analysis tool comparison will be discussed.

Kelley, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2014

CubeSat Material Limits for Design for Demise

The CubeSat form factor of nano-satellite (a satellite with a mass between one and ten kilograms) has grown in popularity due to their ease of construction and low development and launch costs. In particular, their use as student led payload design projects has increased due to the growing number of launch opportunities. CubeSats are often deployed as secondary or tertiary payloads on most US launch vehicles or they may be deployed from the ISS. The focus of this study will be on CubeSats launched from the ISS. From a space safety standpoint, the development and deployment processes for CubeSats differ significantly from that of most satellites. For large satellites, extensive design reviews and documentation are completed, including assessing requirements associated with re-entry survivability. Typical CubeSat missions selected for ISS deployment have a less rigorous review process that may not evaluate aspects beyond overall design feasibility. CubeSat design teams often do not have the resources to ensure their design is compliant with re-entry risk requirements. A study was conducted to examine methods to easily identify the maximum amount of a given material that can be used in the construction of a CubeSats without posing harm to persons on the ground. The results demonstrate that there is not a general equation or relationship that can be used for all materials; instead a limiting value must be defined for each unique material. In addition, the specific limits found for a number of generic materials that have been previously used as benchmarking materials for re-entry survivability analysis tool comparison will be discussed.

Kelley, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Lunar Ice Cube: ongoing development of first generation deep space cubesat mission with compact broadband IR spectrometer

Lunar Ice Cube (LIC) is one of 13 6U cubesats that will be deployed by EM1 in cislunar space. LIC along with Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map, all focused on the search for volatiles but with very different payloads, will be the first deep space cubesats designed to address goals for both demonstrating new technologies and collecting scientific data. Effectively, as their developments are occurring in parallel, they are acting as prototypes for future deep space cubesats missions. One useful outcome of this experiment is to evolve a working paradigm for the development and operation of compact, cost-capped, standardized (supporting subsystems) spacecraft to serve the needs of diverse user communities.

Mason, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lunar and Lagrangian Point L1 L2 CubeSat Communication and Navigation Considerations

CubeSats have grown in sophistication to the point that relatively low-cost mission solutions could be undertaken for planetary exploration. There are unique considerations for Lunar and L1L2 CubeSat communication and navigation compared with low earth orbit CubeSats. This paper explores those considerations as they relate to the MoreheadGSFC Lunar IceCube Mission. The Lunar IceCube is a CubeSat mission led by Morehead State University with participation from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, JPL, the Busek Company and Vermont Tech. It will search for surface water ice and other resources from a high inclination lunar orbit. Lunar IceCube is one of a select group of CubeSats designed to explore beyond low-earth orbit that will fly on NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) as secondary payloads for Exploration Mission (EM) 1. Lunar IceCube and the EM-1 CubeSats will lay the groundwork for future lunar and L1L2 CubeSat missions. This paper discusses communication and navigation needs for the Lunar IceCube mission and navigation and radiation tolerance requirements related to lunar and L1L2 orbits. Potential CubeSat radio and antennas for such missions are investigated and compared. Ground station coverage, link analysis, and ground station solutions are also discussed. There are currently modifications in process for the Morehead ground station. Further enhancement of the Morehead ground station and the NASA Near Earth Network (NEN) are being examined. This paper describes how the NEN may support Lunar and L1L2 CubeSats without any enhancements and potential expansion of NEN to better support such missions in the future. The potential NEN enhancements include upgrading current NEN Cortex receiver with Forward Error Correction (FEC) Turbo Code, providing X-band Uplink capability, and adding ranging options. The benefits of ground station enhancements for CubeSats flown on NASA Exploration Missions (EM) are presented. The paper also discusses other initiatives that the NEN is studying to better support the CubeSat community, including streamlining the compatibility test, planning and scheduling associated with CubeSat missions.

CubeSat↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lunar and Lagrangian Point L1 L2 CubeSat Communication and Navigation Considerations

CubeSats have grown in sophistication to the point that relatively low-cost mission solutions could be undertaken for planetary exploration. There are unique considerations for lunar and L1/L2 CubeSat communication and navigation compared with low earth orbit CubeSats. This paper explores those considerations as they relate to the Lunar IceCube Mission. The Lunar IceCube is a CubeSat mission led by Morehead State University with participation from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Busek Company and Vermont Tech. It will search for surface water ice and other resources from a high inclination lunar orbit. Lunar IceCube is one of a select group of CubeSats designed to explore beyond low-earth orbit that will fly on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) as secondary payloads for Exploration Mission (EM) 1. Lunar IceCube and the EM-1 CubeSats will lay the groundwork for future lunar and L1/L2 CubeSat missions. This paper discusses communication and navigation needs for the Lunar IceCube mission and navigation and radiation tolerance requirements related to lunar and L1/L2 orbits. Potential CubeSat radios and antennas for such missions are investigated and compared. Ground station coverage, link analysis, and ground station solutions are also discussed. This paper will describe modifications in process for the Morehead ground station, as well as further enhancements of the Morehead ground station and NASA Near Earth Network (NEN) that are being considered. The potential NEN enhancements include upgrading current NEN Cortex receiver with Forward Error Correction (FEC) Turbo Code, providing X-band uplink capability, and adding ranging options. The benefits of ground station enhancements for CubeSats flown on NASA Exploration Missions (EM) are presented. This paper also describes how the NEN may support lunar and L1/L2 CubeSats without any enhancements. In addition, NEN is studying other initiatives to better support the CubeSat community, including streamlining the compatibility testing, planning and scheduling associated with CubeSat missions. Because of the lower cost, opportunity for simultaneous multipoint observations, it is inevitable that CubeSats will continue to increase in popularity for not only LEO missions, but for lunar and L1/L2 missions as well. The challenges for lunar and L1/L2 missions for communication and navigation are much greater than for LEO missions, but are not insurmountable. Advancements in flight hardware and ground infrastructure will ease the burden.

CubeSat↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Small Spacecraft Swarm Deployment and Stationkeeping Strategy for Sun-Earth L1 Halo Orbits

Spacecraft orbits about the Sun-Earth librarian point L1 have been of interest since the 1950s. An L1 halo orbit was first achieved with the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) mission, and similar orbits around Sun-Earth L1 were achieved in the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Genesis, and Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) missions. With recent advancements in CubeSat technology, we envision that it will soon be feasible to deploy CubeSats at L1. As opposed to these prior missions where one large satellite orbited alone, a swarm of CubeSats at L1 would enable novel science data return, providing a topology for intersatellite measurements of heliophysics phenomena both spatially and temporally, at varying spatial scales.The purpose of this iPoster is to present a flight dynamics strategy for a swarm of numerous CubeSats orbiting Sun-Earth L1. The presented method is a coupled, two-part solution. First, we present a deployment strategy for theCubeSats that is optimized to produce prescribed, time-varying intersatellite baselines for the purposes of collectingmagnetometer data as well as radiometric measurements from cross-links. Second, we employ a loose controlstrategy that was successfully applied to SOHO and ACE for minimized stationkeeping propellant expenditure. Weemphasize that the presented solution is practical within the current state-of-the-art and heritage CubeSat technology,citing capabilities of CubeSat designs that will launch on the upcoming Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) to lunar orbitsand beyond. Within this iPoster, we present animations of the simulated deployment strategy and resulting spacecrafttrajectories. Mission design parameters such as total v required for long-term station keeping andminimum/maximum/mean spacecraft separation distances are also presented.

Optimal control↗
NASA NTRS2016

Miniaturized Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer for CubeSat Atmospheric Measurements

To increase the number of single point in-situ measurements of thermosphere and exosphere ion and neutral composition and density, miniaturized instrumentation is in high demand to take advantage of the increasing platform opportunities available in the smallsat/cubesat industry. The INMS (Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer) addresses this need by providing simultaneous measurements of both the neutral and ion environment, essentially providing two instruments in one compact model. The 1.3U volume, 570 gram, 1.8W nominal power INMS instrument makes implementation into cubesat designs (3U and above) practical and feasible. With high dynamic range (0.1-500eV), mass dynamic range of 1-40amu, sharp time resolution (0.1s), and mass resolution of MdM16, the INMS instrument addresses the atmospheric science needs that otherwise would have required larger more expensive instrumentation. INMS-v1 (version 1) launched on Exocube (CalPoly 3U cubesat) in 2015 and INMS-v2 (version 2) is scheduled to launch on Dellingr (GSFC 6U cubesat) in 2017. New versions of INMS are currently being developed to increase and add measurement capabilities, while maintaining its smallsat/cubesat form.

science↗
NASA NTRS2017

Drag De-Orbit Device: A New Standard Re-Entry Actuator for CubeSats

With the advent of CubeSats, research in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) becomes possible for universities and small research groups. Only a handful of launch sites can be used, due to geographical and political restrictions. As a result, common orbits in LEO are becoming crowded due to the additional launches made possible by low-cost access to space. CubeSat design principles require a maximum of a 25-year orbital lifetime in an effort to reduce the total number of spacecraft in orbit at any time. Additionally, since debris may survive re-entry, it is ideal to de-orbit spacecraft over unpopulated areas to prevent casualties. The Drag Deorbit Device (D3) is a self-contained targeted re-entry subsystem intended for CubeSats. By varying the cross-wind area, the atmospheric drag can be varied in such a way as to produce desired maneuvers. The D3 is intended to be used to remove spacecraft from orbit to reach a desired target interface point. Additionally, attitude stabilization is performed by the D3 prior to deployment and can replace a traditional ADACS on many missions.This paper presents the hardware used in the D3 and operation details. Four stepper-driven, repeatedly retractable booms are used to modify the cross-wind area of the D3 and attached spacecraft. Five magnetorquers (solenoids) over three axes are used to damp rotational velocity. This system is expected to be used to improve mission flexibility and allow additional launches by reducing the orbital lifetime of spacecraft.The D3 can be used to effect a re-entry to any target interface point, with the orbital inclination limiting the maximum latitude. In the chance that the main spacecraft fails, a timer will automatically deploy the booms fully, ensuring the spacecraft will at the minimum reenter the atmosphere in the minimum possible time, although not necessarily at the desired target interface point. Although this does not reduce the risk of casualties, the 25-year lifetime limit is still respected, allowing a reduction of the risk associated with a hardware failure.

reentry↗
NASA NTRS2017

Drag De-Orbit Device: A New Standard Re-Entry Actuator for CubeSats

With the advent of CubeSats, research in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) becomes possible for universities and small research groups. Only a handful of launch sites can be used, due to geographical and political restrictions. As a result, common orbits in LEO are becoming crowded due to the additional launches made possible by low-cost access to space. CubeSat design principles require a maximum of a 25-year orbital lifetime in an effort to reduce the total number of spacecraft in orbit at any time. Additionally, since debris may survive re-entry, it is ideal to de-orbit spacecraft over unpopulated areas to prevent casualties. The Drag Deorbit Device (D3) is a self-contained targeted re-entry subsystem intended for CubeSats. By varying the cross-wind area, the atmospheric drag can be varied in such a way as to produce desired maneuvers. The D3 is intended to be used to remove spacecraft from orbit to reach a desired target interface point. Additionally, attitude stabilization is performed by the D3 prior to deployment and can replace a traditional ADACS on many missions.This paper presents the hardware used in the D3 and operation details. Four stepper-driven, repeatedly retractable booms are used to modify the cross-wind area of the D3 and attached spacecraft. Five magnetorquers (solenoids) over three axes are used to damp rotational velocity. This system is expected to be used to improve mission flexibility and allow additional launches by reducing the orbital lifetime of spacecraft.The D3 can be used to effect a re-entry to any target interface point, with the orbital inclination limiting the maximum latitude. In the chance that the main spacecraft fails, a timer will automatically deploy the booms fully, ensuring the spacecraft will at the minimum reenter the atmosphere in the minimum possible time, although not necessarily at the desired target interface point. Although this does not reduce the risk of casualties, the 25-year lifetime limit is still respected, allowing a reduction of the risk associated with a hardware failure.

reentry↗
NASA NTRS2016

Micropulsed Plasma Thrusters for Attitude Control of a Low-Earth-Orbiting CubeSat

This study presents a 3-Unit CubeSat design with commercial-off-the-shelf hardware, Teflon-fueled micropulsed plasma thrusters, and an attitude determination and control approach. The micropulsed plasma thruster is sized by the impulse bit and pulse frequency required for continuous compensation of expected maximum disturbance torques at altitudes between 400 and 1000 km, as well as to perform stabilization of up to 20 deg /s and slew maneuvers of up to 180 deg. The study involves realistic power constraints anticipated on the 3-Unit CubeSat. Attitude estimation is implemented using the q method for static attitude determination of the quaternion using pairs of the spacecraft-sun and magnetic-field vectors. The quaternion estimate and the gyroscope measurements are used with an extended Kalman filter to obtain the attitude estimates. Proportional-derivative control algorithms use the static attitude estimates in order to calculate the torque required to compensate for the disturbance torques and to achieve specified stabilization and slewing maneuvers or combinations. The controller includes a thruster-allocation method, which determines the optimal utilization of the available thrusters and introduces redundancy in case of failure. Simulation results are presented for a 3-Unit CubeSat under detumbling, pointing, and pointing and spinning scenarios, as well as comparisons between the thruster-allocation and the paired-firing methods under thruster failure.

Gatsonis, Nikolaos A.↗