Cubesat 10x10x10cm 1kg Payload, Lets here it then... |
Cubesat 10x10x10cm 1kg Payload, Lets here it then... |
Sep 15 2005, 06:53 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
I'm sure many of you will be familar with the CubeSat project, in fact some of you may well have worked on one.
So lets hear it, what would you do with a 10x10x10cm 1kg payload in a CubeSat, beside the obvious like stick a camera in it and photograph your house. Who knows, perhaps one day we may see the launch of the USF CubeSat |
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Sep 17 2005, 10:27 AM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Within the 'scope' as it were of a cubesat, you dont have THAT tight a control on orientation, even with electro magnetic or gravity gradient stability control. It might be worth checking out previously actively stabalised sats to see how much pointing accuracy they could muster.
I think a sensible, modest Cubesat is a sensible precursor to anything more bold. Every few days I get an email from Cutesat... Hello! This is XI MAIL. * Message from us This picture was taken over Japan. * Status of XI-IV Remaining Battery Level : 49.8% Charging Current : 0.0mA Electricity Generated : 0.6W Temperature(+X Panel) : 24.7deg Temperature(-X Panel) : 24.7deg Temperature(+Y Panel) : 24.7deg Temperature(-Y Panel) : 21.2deg Temperature(+Z Panel) : 23.3deg Temperature(-Z Panel) : 18.4deg Temperature(Battery) : 21.9deg Temperature(Transmitter) : 21.9deg and the attached image was todays image A 1024 x 1024 CCD camera - which could be commanded to take images as close to a given Lat/Long as possible would make an excellent resource and a superb outreach project - and as a second string, perhaps fly on one of the 6 sides - some prorotype solar cells as an engineering project. iirc - baisc cube-sat kits are around $10k ish. http://www.cubesatkit.com http://cubesat.arizona.edu/rincon_sat/structures/cad.cgi http://littonlab.atl.calpoly.edu/ http://www-ee.eng.hawaii.edu/~cubesat/ I'll tell you what genuine contribution I can make....pretty 3d pictures of a cubesat in 3ds max doug
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Sep 17 2005, 11:18 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
QUOTE (djellison @ Sep 17 2005, 11:27 AM) I think a sensible, modest Cubesat is a sensible precursor to anything more bold. A 1024 x 1024 CCD camera - which could be commanded to take images as close to a given Lat/Long as possible would make an excellent resource and a superb outreach project - and as a second string, perhaps fly on one of the 6 sides - some prorotype solar cells as an engineering project. doug You are of course correct, keep it very simple. With a simple camera (or two: one narrow, one wide angle, one mounted pointing down the other horizontally) on a gravity gradient stablised craft there are several things that could be done. Daylight photography of given lat and long as suggested by Doug, I/R bolometer to measure fireballs entereing earths atmosphere as outlined by Bob Shaw. You could use the CCD as a cosmic ray detector to measure the flux. And the one that interests me would be night-time imaging of large storms to hunt for sprites and all the other as yet not fully understood upper atmosphere phenomenon associated with lightning. The use of high sensitivity CCDs and optical enhancement routines during the night pass would enable this, and given their recent discovery and the paucity of imaging of these phenomenon returned from space, i think it would make a valid objective for a cube sat. i would love to hear as many suggestions as possible for worthwhile imaging projects that could be pulled of with a pair of cheap CCDs in orbit. I have edited this post for spelling. This post has been edited by paxdan: Sep 17 2005, 11:35 AM |
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Sep 17 2005, 01:05 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
QUOTE (paxdan @ Sep 17 2005, 12:18 PM) You are of course correct, keep it very simple. With a simple camera (or two: one narrow, one wide angle, one mounted pointing down the other horizontally) on a gravity gradient stablised craft there are several things that could be done. Daylight photography of given lat and long as suggested by Doug, I/R bolometer to measure fireballs entereing earths atmosphere as outlined by Bob Shaw. You could use the CCD as a cosmic ray detector to measure the flux. And the one that interests me would be night-time imaging of large storms to hunt for sprites and all the other as yet not fully understood upper atmosphere phenomenon associated with lightning. The use of high sensitivity CCDs and optical enhancement routines during the night pass would enable this, and given their recent discovery and the paucity of imaging of these phenomenon returned from space, i think it would make a valid objective for a cube sat. i would love to hear as many suggestions as possible for worthwhile imaging projects that could be pulled of with a pair of cheap CCDs in orbit. I have edited this post for spelling. Paxdan: I like the sprites idea - and have thought of a way to reduce data transmission requirements fairly drastically. As you probably know, many current digital cameras offer a 'time-machine' facility, where they constantly stare at a scene and record images to a temporary buffer. When you press the shutter, the last ten or so images are written to long-term storage. So, you see the splash as the swimmer dives into the water, and get the picture you really wanted a quarter of a second beforehand. So, to record sprites, you have camera which 'stares' and records to temporary storage. You download thumbnails (a la MER) and volunteers check them (a la SOHO comets), or you use software if that's too slow. Only then do you actually download the full-sized images. Most sprites will be found between Latitudes X and Y (name a figure!) leaving many northern hemisphere passes free for downloads. So, the initially high burden of recording images is made much more acceptable. Imaging will always be costly, though, and anything that would reduce the number of images seems like a good idea. So, my next thought: Don't look down, but instead look sideways - with a slightly wobbly CubeSat, you can scan the horizon, and perhaps see many more events with much less real estate covered (plus, by using the 'time machine' technique, you could hope to get 3D imagery, and all the rest). Phew! Too much inspiration for one day! Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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