Nanosat: A Spacecraft for Technology Demonstration
- Paper number
IAC-05-B5.6.B.02
- Author
Dr. Alfred Ng, Canadian Space Agency, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Levesque Daniel, Canadian Space Agency, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Linh-Ngo Phong, Canadian Space Agency, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Wanping Zheng, Canadian Space Agency, Canada
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) maintains its internal expertise through the Space Technology Research Program (STRP). This program supports small number of focused, multi-disciplinary research activities. They must support present and future needs of CSA mission requirements with particular emphasis on projects that are deemed to be long term and high risk for industries. One such project is the development of a nanosatellite bus suitable for validating technologies in their infancy stage. The ultimate goal is to fly the nanosatellite on a regular basis such that we have a mechanism to rapidly validate innovative space technologies. The effort on the nanosatellite bus development will utilize commercial off the shelf (COTS) products for Tracking, Telemetry and Command (TT&C), power generation subsystems as much as possible. CSA engineers instead will concentrate the effort on systems engineering and on developing an optimal layout suitable for adapting payloads of diverse requirements. The baseline nanosatellite will be less than 10 kg and dimensions of not more than a 25 cm × 25 cm × 25 cm. The dimension and weight allows the nanosatellite to virtually fit on any launcher that carry secondary payloads such as Dnepr, Rockot, and Ariane 5. The communications subsystems will be VHF for uplink and UHF for downlink. The satellite will be covered with solar cells on its 6 surface. As it is spin stabilized, the satellite can generate solar power except in the eclipse period. Simulations were carried out for a large range of orbit altitudes and inclinations. The results indicate that the nanosatellite can generate a minimum of 9W and a maximum of 16W using triple junction GaAs solar cells. With the bus components consuming no more than 3W, a minimum of 6 W is available for the payloads. This bus concept is not new and has been flown on many AMSAT satellites. The innovation is on the payloads. In the first mission, two payloads will be flown and tested in space. The first one is a multifunction panel. The idea is to demonstrate that the empty volume in the traditional honeycomb panel can be better utilized. A panel was designed such that solar cells are mounted on one side. The middle layer will hold a series of Li polymer type battery and the associated power conditioning circuitry. The panel built has almost equivalent strength to the honeycomb panel but the major advantage is on saving the spacecraft volume. The second payload that will be demonstrated is a microbolometer based horizon scanner. The microbolometer is a miniaturized with high signal to noise ratio infrared detector. If proven successful, this is a novel attitude sensor for nanosatellite that can provide measurement on the spin and precession rates. This paper will explain in details on the nanosatellite layout as well as the two payloads. Progress made up to date will be presented.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-B5.6.B.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.