What are the three CubeSats on this launch besides SSETI? Cornell had one they were going to launch - was this the mission? I didn't see it on the ESA news item.

Thanks.

The three CubeSats are :
- Ncube II
It contains an automated identification system (AIS) used to receive GPS signals. Ncube II was developed by Norvegian universities.
- UWE-1
The main objective of UWE-1, is to conduct telecommunication experiments related to the optimisation of an internet-related infrastructure for space applications.
It was developped by a German university.
- XI-V
Its primary mission is the demonstration of newly-developed solar cells in space.
It was developped by the Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory (ISSL) of Tokyo.

More details on : http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/sseti_express/SEMN9Z708BE_0.html

Rakhir

As I understand it - XI-V is one of the development models for XI-IV (which emailed me lovely earth pics every now and again ) - but with a better, 320x240 camera.

Of the three - UWE has been detected fine, NCube2 may have had a beacon signal detected, no news from XI-V yet.

Strangely, NCube 1 was a failure, but they've taken it's engineering model camera and adapted it for SSETI itself - 1280x1024 images with approx 100m/pixel resolution.

Doug

Do you have any of those Earth images available to show us?

I like to keep track of the home planet now and then.

http://www.space.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cubesat/index-e.html has a few

to be honest, they're terrible, but it's the thought that counts

Take enough of them...

SSETI Express in safe mode due to an undervoltage caused by battery charging problems.
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMWD7638FE_index_0.html

Signals from XI-V and UWE-1 have been successfully received at their respective ground stations.

Ncube2 students are still struggling to receive the first life signs from their satellite.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSV5638FE_index_0.html

Rakhir

2 for 3 on cubes isnt bad actually - given that they cost less than the average projects accounting error

Sad for the Ncube guys though - this will be their second lost cube

Doug

More coverage:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18130

Bob Shaw

With Clyde Space now having announced a space-rated EPS for the CubeSat Kit, we have a more complete overview of the available masses and volumes for missions that base their satellites on our hardware. Here are some interesting numbers:

Structural masses (i.e. the masses of the complete empty structures of our CubeSat Kits, including all fasteners):

1U (10x10x10cm):

Total for 1U solid-wall: 251g
Total for 1U skeletonized: 166g


3U (10x10x30cm):

Total for 3U solid-wall: 521g
Total for 3U skeletonized: 321g

FM430 Flight Module (C&DH and COM processor): 81g

Microhard MHX-series transceiver: 66g

Solar Panel Clips: 9g

Clyde Space EPS (includes Li-Poly battery, estimated): 250g

So excluding payload, antennas and solar cell panels, a 1U skeletonized chassis + FM430 + MHX transceiver + Clyde Space EPS comes in at 572g, and uses up roughly the lower 45mm of the internal volume in the structure. So that means that you have roughly 400g for the antenna(s), solar panels and payload, and room for the payload inside a volume of roughly 96 x 96 x 40mm.

The real killer -- mass-wise -- is the Solar Panels themselves. Just the bare PCBs (in 0.062" / 1.5mm thickness) weigh 30g each. So 180g just to be able to mount your solar cells to panels on all six sides. Dropping to 0.031" (0.75mm) PCBs saves you nearly 100g (10% !) of mass of the satellite.

I noticed in this thread some discusson of the 2U (10x10x20cm) CubeSat. We've built and delivered 1U and 3U (solid-wall and skeletonized) units to customers. Haven't yet received an order for a 2U (or a 0.5U or a 1.5U), but all of these are easily implemented within our architecture.

Hope this helps,

Incredible, amazing, astounding!!!

I have no words to explain my excitation when I've read this subject!

So, it mean that anybody can build a 10 cm cube sized satellite?! It's incredible, I never have heard this adventure. It's so ... surealistic!

A few days ago, I planned (just for fun), to build a micro-spacetelescope (mini-hubble in other word ). After, the launch will be did by Ariane5. But, If I have a good understanding of the Cubesat story, it will be cheaper by using the Space Shuttle?

So, is ti possible to have more details on the how-to of the Cubesats, I'm very very very interest.

I think they're a fantastic development. I don't think they're in the realm of good science observations ( some interesting measurements, but no optics etc) yet..but 2u/3u sats could certainly include something interesting

For your average private individual - it's still not 'cheap' - I've seen lots of figures from about $10k to about $200k for a full project. It depends if you have generous suppliers etc etc

I'd say it takes a handfull of experts - more than just one person - but not a huge team. It's not easy - and there's no guarentees ( as the tragic recent launch failure reminds us all ) - but it's a fascinating and exciting developmetn and I'm always interested to see what the inginuity of students and universities can think of to do with the platforum - and what Pumpkin have done is make it even more accesable by producing a kit.

Doug

I'm just curious, do you sell to non-US customers without an export license? I would think that some of this stuff would be classified as controlled by ITAR.

And what about the launch cost? And the launcher, have we the choice between a small launcher (Delta...) or Space Shuttle? Or European launcher (I think about the next generation of small launcher propose by the ESA, named Vega)?

I made a little reflexion about a mini-scope, with a diameter of 70mm, Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov for the optical system. The miror will be in the box and the second miror will be open and will extend after the launch on a distance of 30cm. I will draw schematics to explain my futur project.

I don't think the shuttle would be used for these anymore. Converted Russian ICBM's make the bulk of the launch manifest for Cubesats - but using the PPOD, there's scope to launch them as a secondary payload on the other vehicles you mention, Delta 2/4, Atlas 5, Ariane 5, and in the future Vega etc. I think working with Cubesat teams is a sensible investment for the LV manufacturers. The students that build and fly these things are the same students that the major LV and astronautical engineering firms will want to employ in the future.... by spending the money on accomodating Cubesat PPOD's when volume and mass budgets allow, they're essentially giving experience to future employees - it's a good trade.

Just as an aside Andrew - is there any chance of the 1/2U, 2U and 3U chassis CAD files making it onto the website? I'm not a potential customer ( unless I win the lottery in which case I'll be turning into a philanthropist and funding several UK universities to start cubesat projects ) - but I do like looking at these things - even if just from a creative standpoint for making pretty picture http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...ost&id=1588

Doug

Not very serious posting…

I'll see what we can do. We do have a 3U model (not yet on the site) 1/2U, 1 1/2U and 2U have not yet been ordered by any customers, so we haven't had time to make the models either.

One application of our model is not something I had originally envisioned, but it's pretty cool anyway. That is to simply take the model and run it through a rapid-prototyping (e.g. SL) machine, and then using it to attract attention, for fundraising, brainstorming, etc.

--Andrew

Yes, we do.

This is a complex subject. To summarize (very briefly), because what we do is fully in the public domain and because the primary mission is research, then we are able to sell these to non-US customers without an export license.

That said, there are items we will not sell (because they would require an export license, which would put them out of the price range of CubeSats), like solar panel assemblies or cells.

That's one reason why we are partnering with companies like Clyde Space in Scotland, who offer a plug-and-play EPS solution for the CubeSat Kit, and who also are in the business of solar panel manufacturing.

I have simple tastes.

Assuming I had the expertise, two experiments I could do on a CubeSat would be:

--Monitoring civilian FM and AM ground stations as the satellite passed overhead.
--Using said transmissions to "listen" to meteors.
--Measuring the variation of radiation with each orbit.

These wouldn't be groundbreaking, but I would find them interesting.

3U models are now online, in a variety of CAD formats:

http://www.cubesatkit.com/content/design.html

Perhaps the way forward *isn't* with solar cells, but with solar-powered Stirling Engines; pointing might be fun, though...

...in fact, simply flying a Stirling Engine in it's own right would be a good engineering mission!

http://www.gyroscope.com/d.asp?product=SOLARSTIRLING

Bob Shaw

Another interesting prospect is on-line machining - design the CAD model, hit [Enter] and a week later your components arrive...

http://www.emachineshop.com/

Bob Shaw

Apologies for extending this slightly more OT but this sculptor uses such a 3D metal "printing" system to create exceptionally complex structures that would be flat out impossible to construct any other way.

One of the best uses for Cubesats is to do engineering tests. The two that were in the last launch from the University of Arizona had engineering purposes, and these were more than just seeing if student projects work. One was to do a test of a method of using a low-powered beacon to transmit data to earth, and the other was to test the effects of radiation on several components.

There are alot more things that could be done, but it takes a creative mind to come up with them. Any engineer can come up with a $4 billion dollar telescope that'll vastly improve our knowledge of the universe, but it takes a truly creative one to figure out how to do something new with such a small payload. Luckily most students have some sense of creativity.

Great links - puts me in mind of the times I've tried to build tesseracts out of matchsticks. A seriously clever artist, making a real art/science crossover!

Bob Shaw

I actually went as far as getting a quote for some turned metal wheels for a model of Thrust 2 I was thinking of making...

Once I found out how much it was going to cost...I stopped thinking about making it

Doug

This caught my attention a few minutes ago and here seemed the best place to post it. Not sure if it counts as a private mission, but apparently nasa supervision will be at arms length at least.

Hey, that's a pretty neat idea... Can't think of something that might excite a group of students more than building their very own lunar orbiter!

OT here at least tangentally, but just can't resist adding an anecdote that so many here might appreciate. Couple of weeks ago I was in a meeting with my boss & his boss discussing spacecraft transport. I mentioned that the aircraft of choice for us, a heavy lifter, suffers from low enroute reliability. The big boss's response (paraphrased) was "Well, we need to influence the design process early enough so that our satellites are small enough to be carried on commercial planes." He went on & on, and my boss & I courageously bit our tongues almost completely off, patiently explaining that this might be possible in 15 or 20 years but right now contractually requiring major breakthroughs in solid-state physics and a dozen other disciplines might be, uh, kind of expensive & risky & of course vastly prolong development time...

Truly a Dilbert moment, and a prime example of why business majors shouldn't be involved even peripherally with engineering...well, at least not this one, anyhow...

I'm working on a proposal for a Cubesat mission in which the satellite will be placed on very low Earth orbit. Since orbital decay at low altitude will bring the s/c down in a few weeks -> now I'm in need of a tool that can help me predict the life time of the Cubesat on a particular orbit.

I've been searching on the net but it seems that there isn't so many tool like this available. Does anybody know of such tool or any web page that can help me to calculate the life time of a Cubesat (10x10x10cm, 1kg) on a circular 300x300km orbit?