UNICubeSAT: a satellite for aeronomy measurements in orbit

Paper number

IAC-09.D1.1.11

Author

Prof. Fabio Santoni, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy

Coauthor

Prof. Filippo Graziani, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Fabrizio Piergentili, University of Bologna, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Francesco Guarducci, Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Luigi Ridolfi, Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Italy

Year

2009

Abstract

The Group of Astrodynamics of University of Rome “La Sapienza” (GAUSS) established at Scuola di
Ingegneria Aerospaziale the research and education program UNISAT, in which PhD and graduate students
have the opportunity to gain hands on experience on small space missions. Four university satellites
(UNISAT, UNISAT-2, UNISAT-3, UNISAT-4), weighting about 10 kg, have been designed, manufactured,
tested and launched every other year since 2000 in the framework of this program. The satellite UNISAT -3,
launched on June 29th 2004 is still operative after almost four years from launch and the data are received
from the University of Rome Ground Station on a regularly basis. Unfortunately, the satellite UNISAT -4 did
not reach the orbital phase, because of the failure of the launch vehicle in 2006. Scuola di Ingegneria
Aerospaziale pioneered the field of university satellites, designing, building, testing and launching its own
satellites back in the sixties, when the San Marco Program was established in cooperation with NASA. The
aim of the San Marco program was the measurement of neutral atmospheric density at low altitudes, using an
extremely accurate instrument, “the Broglio drag balance”, ideated and proposed to NASA by Prof. Luigi
Broglio, Dean of the School at that time. The last San Marco satellite has been launched in 1988. The
technological developments in the last two decades, and in particular electronics devices miniaturization,
allows now to install a revised scheme of the original Broglio drag balance on board a 1 kg nanospacecraft.
A scaled version of UNISAT, UNICubeSAT, is being developed for hands-on education purposes, reducing
the satellite weight from 10kg to 1kg, and this design includes a scaled version of the balance, to perform in
situ atmospheric density measurements. A major requirement of this experiment is of course the orbit perigee
height, which should be about 350 km or lower. A launch opportunity in these kinds of orbits could give the
opportunity to continue our aeronomy studies tradition, installing a renewed version of the Broglio drag
balance on a Cubesat. This experiment is very well suited for a university student-built satellite and recent
advances in micro and nano instrumentation devices allow to scale down the original Broglio drag balance
design to fit inside the small volume available in Cubesats. The paper deals with the cubesat satellite
subsystems design, mission profile and key features of the experiment showing that meaningful
measurements of the neutral atmospheric density can be obtained in orbit, within the accuracy limitations
imposed by the cubesat power and volume constraints. 

Abstract document

IAC-09.D1.1.11.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-09.D1.1.11.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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