Nano-Satellite Still Fully Operational
Boeing tells ANN the company has completed the first phase of
its nano-satellite research and experimentation, with the
successful conclusion of the CubeSat TestBed 1 (CSTB1) mission. The
spacecraft, launched April 17 from the Baikonur Cosmosdrome in
Kazakhstan, accomplished 100 percent of its primary mission
objectives.
Through experiments such as CSTB1, Boeing is evaluating a
variety of technologies, design elements, and attitude
determination and control approaches for future operational
nano-satellites -- spacecraft weighing less than 22 pounds (10 kg).
Pico-satellites like CSTB1 weigh less than three pounds (1 kg).
With the tiny spacecraft still fully operational, the program is
entering an optional test phase to support additional experiments
such as taking more photographs using CubeSat's ultra-low power
imager and evaluating non-traditional attitude control
algorithms.
"The extremely low cost and risk of CTSB1 allowed us to
experiment with a range of more radical design elements that
wouldn't occur with a more traditional program," said Scott
MacGillivray, manager of Boeing Nano-Satellite Programs and CSTB1
program manager. "Leveraging the experience gained from this
mission and its flight-validated design elements will enable us to
explore new, more capable designs to support emerging
nano-satellite missions."
Boeing collected more than 500,000 sensor data points from the
test bed during the three-and-one-half-month mission and more than
1,650 orbits to date. Boeing will correlate the data with
simulations and ground testing, apply it to development tools for
future nano-satellites and assess the lifespan of several
commercial off-the-shelf parts used on the spacecraft.
"The technology demonstrated on CSTB1 fits well with the goals
of our Advanced Systems group," said Alex Lopez, vice-president,
Boeing Advanced Network and Space Systems. "In addition to
nano-satellite applications, we can incorporate components and
design elements into larger spacecraft to reduce volume, mass and
power needs for the main spacecraft bus and increase resources
available for mission and payload needs."
CSTB1 features multi-functional side panels with a variety of
embedded sensors, a key design element of the compact,
highly-integrated nano-satellite.
Future design work will increase spacecraft performance in
attitude determination knowledge and control accuracy, enable
higher computational throughput and communications bandwidth, and
support a wide range of specialized missions at which
nano-satellites can excel.