KySat

Consortium to hitch ride to Venus

JAXA has awarded a consortium of Japanese universities a free boost toward Venus aboard its Venus Climate Orbiter, scheduled for a May 2010 launch. Ars Technica:

The one that will be headed to Venus will be built by a team from the University Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC), a group of 20 Japanese universities. The probe will measure about 35x35x35 centimeters and weigh approximately 15 kilograms. Once on trajectory toward Venus, it will test several computers built by UNISEC member universities, and hold a competition that will determine which computer survives the longest in the space environment. It will also carry out experiments in deep-space communication technologies using commercially available equipment in collaboration with amateur ham radio operators. 

Wayne

P-POD animation

Tyler recently uploaded this animated clip of a KySat cube exiting the Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD. Housed in the launch vehicle, the P-POD will carry KySat to orbit.

Wayne

Video: cubesat solar sail

As promised yesterday, here is a video of the deployment mechanism for the innovative CubeSat NanoSail-D. It's amazing how 10 square meters of sail can be packed into the space the size of three cubes.

[Update:] Dean Alhorn, the engineer in the video, wrote to say that "the actual sail and deployment mechanism is packed in the volume that is less that 2 cubes. The first cube is all electronics and batteries. The next two cubes [house] the sail, boom mechanism and some deployment electronics. There is room for 40 sq. meter of sail, but not enough volume for more boom length."

Thanks for the clarification!

Wayne

NanoSail-D: Solar sail cubesat

A rocket flight scheduled for later this summer is turning into a series of firsts. The first payload flight of the Falcon will also deliver some interesting technology to space.

Hold down tests of its motors that Space-X said were part of a dress rehearsal for a flight were conducted recently. Space.com has more on a recent delay of Falcon's flight. 

Of more interest to me: one of the payloads for the flight is the NanoSail-D, a 3U CubeSat, which will deploy a solar sail, another first. Aviation Week:

Dubbed NanoSail-D, the aluminum and plastic payload weighs less than 10 pounds, and unfurls to a four-segment square about 10 feet on a side on four spokes that roll out from a central hub.

It is designed to ride in P-POD [what KySat will use to deploy]... and open up in a 685-by-330 kilometer orbit at an inclination of 9 degrees to demonstrate solar-wind propulsion.

....From its initial orbit NanoSail-D is set to use drag from the tenuous atmosphere at that altitude to slow it back to a reentry five to 14 days after launch, according to Edward Montgomery of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the payload manager.

'NanoSail-D will be the first fully deployed solar sail in space, and the first spacecraft to use solar pressure as a primary means of attitude control or orbital maneuvering,' Montgomery says.

I'll post video of the solar sail tomorrow. It's amazing how a 10 square meter sail can be unfurled from such a small space. 

As usual Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams has more, quoting Sandy Montgomery at the Marshall Space Flight Center on how much faster solar sails would move over long distances than current technologies.

Wayne

Earth pic from CubeSat Cute 1.7

Tyler passed along the second of two picture of Earth from the CubeSat Cute 1.7 + APD II. It's orbiting altitude is roughly similar to the altitude that KySat will fly.

Thanks Tyler!

Wayne

KySat antenna deployment video

Tyler uploaded this video of the antenna deployment using the KySat engineering model. Think of it as a kind of "proof of concept." The team is currently testing the cube and getting the flight model ready to go.

All the antennas are quarter wave monopole at their respective frequency. The shortest antenna - about 5 cm long - is for the S-Band up- and downlink. The 19cm UHF antenna is used for downlink, and the 50cm antenna - the longest - is used for uplink.

Wayne

Taking a hammer to KySat

Members of the KySat team conducted hammer tests of the cube yesterday on the campus of UK. As Tyler explains at the bottom of this post, collecting this data and comparing it with the known vibration profile of the rocket will tell the team whether any dampening needs to be added to protect the satellite during launch.

The "test pod," which simulates the P-POD system that will physically deploy the satellite, is pictured below right. The cube is inside.

The hammer tests are part of a complete testing regime that will ensure that the cube survives launch and carries out its educational mission once it is in the cold vacuum of space.

Wayne

Biofluid management, solar sail to be tested aboard cube missions this month

Tyler has let me know that a couple of new CubeSat missions are set to fly aboard SpaceX Falcon-1 launch on June 23. From AmSat:

PreSat is a 10 x 10 x 30 cm. spacecraft, that will evaluate the performance of a generic biofluidic sample management and handling system for future advanced in situ spaceborne biology experiments. NanoSail-D is a 10 x 10 x 30 cm. spacecraft, which will deploy a solar sail that also will be used as a drag sail to demonstrate orbital debris mitigation technology.

Both missions follow the earlier efforts of Santa Clara U. students in launching Genesat 1, in 2006.

Wayne

Cute 1.7 snaps Earth Portrait

Courtesy of the Southgate Amateur Radio Club, here is a terrific picture taken of Earth by CubeSat Cute-1.7 + APD II, recently launched from India along with many other cubes.

The image is from an altitude of 620 kilometers. Tyler has said that the KySat cube will fly at roughly 650 kilometers in altitude, so the perspective is about the same.

It's thrilling to think that a satellite built by Kentucky students may join other satellites in orbit!

Wayne

First contact: Delphi C-3 team hears from its cube

When I first saw this video from the Delphi C³ team - thanks Tyler! - I thought of everyone on the KySpace CubeSat team. Here's to a similarly happy outcome when KySat flies!

Wayne

Delphi C-3 integration video

The Delphi CubeSat project has posted a couple of recent videos, one of the satellite assembly and one of the first signals received from its successful launch. The video of the cube's assembly is below.

All of the videos from Delphi can be seen on its YouTube channel. Thanks Tyler for passing them a long!

Wayne

CubeSat Update: Tyler Doering

Tyler Doering offered this substantial update on the status of the satellite at the KySpace Conference '08 held last Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky. We're trying something new today with the audio, so if you find it useful please let us know.

Wayne

Kentucky Space: Creating "Playground Events"

[KySat Space readers: this is the final post from my live notes from the Kentucky Space Conference '08 session held last Wednesday in Lexington.]

Dr. Janet Lumpp, KySat faculty advisor from the University of Kentucky, is now up discussing student talent development - it's a issue critical to the success of Kentucky Space and has already come up in discussion a couple of times during the day.

Displaying a well-known quote from NASA administrator Mike Griffin, she says that the vision for space exploration will be carried out by kids in elementary and middle school now.

We're behind. Awarded engineering degrees have flat-lined. They're not keeping pace with population growth.

She points out that our kids are keeping up with the rest of the world through the fourth grade, but fall behind in science, engineering and math after that.

They must be reached at an early age in order to grab their attention before it drifts into other fields. For example, she wonders if the "CSI effect" might be attracting kids to forensics. Kentucky Space needs to fire kids imagination similarly.

She describes some principles for such a long term effort:

The first point is that Ky Space will be multi-generational effort.

It should inject enthusiasm by doing launch events - whether it's high altitude balloon events or doing suborbital launches. Bring students figuratively and literally as close to launches as possible.

She suggests that Kentucky Space can create "playground events" using handheld radios and antennas. She holds an antenna to demonstrate. Kids could submit cube commands that could be executed during playground fly-overs to deliver pictures and audio.

Dr. Lumpp points out that Prof. Bob Twiggs has created "PearlSats," which are strands of ping pong balls filled with candy, for example, that can be hoisted to a high altitude by balloon and "tested" afterward.

Perhaps those balls might be filled with seeds.

Displaying a picture of model rockets launching from a Crayola crayon box, she says that events might also be arranged that capture kids' imaginations using model rockets.

Or CanSats might be flown.

Continuing, she wonders if Kentucky Space might host design competitions. Balloons, sob-orbital and orbital mission design concepts could be solicited. Perhaps at this event in a year or two, a poster session could be held featuring mission concepts from elementary and middle schoolers.

All of these activities can help fill the talent pipeline.

Dr. Lumpp also describes the possibility of doing a standardized KY Space curricula. Much like the CATS testing done statewide, this curricula can also be used to assess progress in the space sciences. That curricula can used, for example, by schools or offered at the local YMCA. And of course, money is needed!

She pulls out some scale models that might be used to illustrate distances for a fifth grade curricula, and discusses how the concept of the extraordinary distances in space might be taught by walking a small foam ball across the stage to approximately thirty feet from a globe. That's the distance of the moon from the Earth.

For High Schools, the Doppler shift that can be taught using Kentucky Space CubeSats. Similarly, Energy Transfer/Transformation can be taught using space systems being used in orbit.

In all those cases, Dr. Lumpp discusses how that knowledge might be applied on a standard basis as part of a statewide space sciences curricula.

For impromptu educational events, she invites people to contact her. As Kris points out in response to a question, it's early - 90 percent of resources so far have been spent on the satellite. But clearly the educational goals of Kentucky Space participants, including the corporate partners, include developing space talent in the commonwealth of Kentucky.

Given a couple of elementary school children of my own, this was my favorite session of the conference.

Wayne

Future Kentucky Space

[KySat Space readers: the next couple of posts will consist of my live notes from the Kentucky Space Conference '08 session held on Wednesday in Lexington.]

Dr. Jim Lumpp, KySat faculty advisor from the University of Kentucky, will talk briefly about future missions.

Beginning with high altitude balloons, he explains that near-space can be used for a wide variety of things because at 100,000 feet, only one percent of the atmosphere is left.

"You can also look up," he says.

Suborbital missions will continue to play a part in the Kentucky Space program. As a test bed for systems, the experience is invaluable.

Displaying a picture of KySat-1, orbital missions are, of course, critical and picking up a theme of Dr. Malphrus', he says that the infrastructure being built around orbital missions is impressive.

Given enough experience, perhaps a lunar mission is possible. Could a P-Pod ride to the moon and eject a cube for lunar orbit?

The satellites being built at MIT, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley and Stanford are big - cubesats are different and KySat has discussed with each of these schools the possibility of working together to contribute cube technology being developed in-house.

Because CubeSats are such a disruptive technology, he adds, the National Science Foundation is looking to launch 3-6 missions a year to do space weather and atmospheric research.

Transitioning to the current project, KySat-1, Dr. Lumpp says that KySat-1 will be passively magnetically stabilized. Since there is nothing "to lever off of" in space, being able to point cubes will be the subject of future efforts. And he offers this thought: perhaps by inducing an electronic current, a magnetic field can be created. This field could be turned on and off. When it's off, the Earth's magnetic field can take over to passively orient the cube.

It's a brief session and in response to a question, Dr. Lumpp describes how cubes can be used for life sciences research. Pharmasat is doing an E. Coli study, for example.

In fact, he adds, it's the launch opportunities that are holding up science.

Wayne

"Big infrastructure, small cube"

[Kentucky Space readers: the series of posts from a one-day conference held yesterday in Lexington, Kentucky are grouped under Kentucky Space Conference '08 in the category cloud on the blog. Image: Dr. Malphrus]

University of Kentucky student Michael Gailey, who is developing some of the testing facilities for the Kentucky cube, is up and is discussing spacecraft testing. Because there are no Jiffy Lubes in orbit, rigorous testing on the ground prior to launch is required, he jokes.

Threats in space include radiation, heat on the sun-side of Earth, and cold when in the shadow of the planet. Throw in the hard vacuum of space and the operating environment is hostile.

Michael displays a picture of the thermal vacuum facility being build at the University of Kentucky now. It will simulate the space environment - thermally cycling the cube from hot to cold and back again, and performing a "bakeout," which tests for any undesirable outgassing from the cube that might pose a threat to other spacecraft on the ride to space.

The shaker will be able to shake a 50 pound satellites on three axis in order to meet the NASA standard for durability while the craft is encased in the P-POD on the rocket.

A clean room is also being built ensure that no foreign components make their way into the cube. The room will meet "class 100" clean room standards.

Showing a picture of the room, Gailey says it's a great place to be if you have allergies.

Dr. Ben Malphrus, who is a Morehead State University faculty advisor for the ground portion of KySat, is up next.

The big project has been the development of the 21 meter dual-use space tracking antenna. It's 82 feet in height. And coming in at roughly 300,000 pounds, it is capable, as he says, of very wide range of motion in altitude and azimuth. The dish has also been designed to operate at K and KU bands to push the broadband envelope.

This antenna is capable of both radio astronomy and the support of satellite missions. It can provide long term monitoring campaigns, sky surveys (dynamic mapping of HI in the Milky Way) and the study of galactic supernova remnants.

Morehead State is very fortunate to have such a world class instrument, he says.

MSU has also obtained an anechoic chamber from Lockhead Martin, which it rebuilt. It simulates the EM environment of space.

Lastly, in development at Morehead is a Space Science Center and Research, Development and Educational Facility, which will permit control of the antenna and include a Digital Star Theater. This building is currently under construction and Dr. Malphrus treats everyone to some pictures - which also show, by the way, the radio antenna on a hill in the background. The building will be devoted exclusively to space sciences, and probably, he adds, wouldn't have been possible without an initiative such as those coming from Kentucky Space.

Here's the takeaway from these two speakers: The physical infrastructure to support Kentucky Space is being built now. The capacity to design, build, test and validate flight hardware in Kentucky is likewise being developed.

As Dr. Malphrus points out, "These are big results are coming from a very small cube."

Wayne

CubeSat 101

Tyler is up again following lunch to introduce the audience to CubeSats and says he'll offer a brief history, a subsystems description and information about recent launches.

The CubeSat is the result of the work of Professor Bob Twiggs and Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari, who set out to design an interface and launch system around which individual satellites can be built.

Holding up a CubeSat displaying an image of a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, he explains how the standards satellite cube fits into the P-POD for the trip to space. These "secondary payloads" are sent up with more expensive satellites. NASA realizes the potential of these pico-satellites and has its own program.

Since 2003, several launches have occurred - from the Eurockot to the SSETI Express to the two DNEPR rocket launches (converted Russian ICBMs), to GeneSat to a launch just last month from India that sent a record number of cubes to space.

As Tyler emphasizes, these cubes are increasingly used for very serious research.

The cube use solar panels to collect the sun's energy and use batteries to store it. Batteries have short life spans. Command and data handling provide the "brains of the cube." It gathers data, stores it, and is typcially computer controlled.

Communications radios send the radio to a ground station, which in the case of KySat, will be in Morehead State University. More on that later.

Payloads have imaging, scientific, educational, data transfer and information missions. While originally, there was a lot of concern over the scope of missions, now it's widely understood that cubes can have a very wide range of missions.

For example, he says the Delfi C-3 will do thin film solar cell experiments on behalf of Dutch institutions. That project has taken CubeSat engineering to a new level. Because it has no batteries, the Delfi cube is in continuous operation. Its designers have also provided a way for the public to collect data from the cube. The deployable solar panels on four faces of the cube are a terrific engineering accomplishment.

He discusses the SEEDS, COMPASS-1, Cute-1.7 and APD II cubes.

About 40 universities in 13 countries are making CubeSats.

In response to a question, he says that a handheld antenna and radio will enable Kentucky students to interpret the Morse dots and dashes from the satellite. It will be one way for Kentucky elementary students to participate.

Wayne

India: space power

The BBC follows up the record launch of 10 satellites by India with a closer look at the Indian space program. Thanks Tyler for the link!

Wayne

Indian PSLV takes ten to space

Spaceflight Now: The ten satellites launched yesterday represented a Indian high for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has flown successfully on 11 of 13 flights since 1993. Six CubeSats flew aboard. If you are interested, the story also contains some detail about the rocket and all the satellites deployed.

HobbySpace has links to individual CubeSat sites.

For amateur radio enthusiasts, relevant information is here.

[Update:] Here is video of the launch of the PSLV. Hat tip: Universe Today.

Wayne

Delphi C3 launches, orbits, talks

Delphi C³, the Dutch CubeSat that I've mentioned a few times here, flew today. Telemetry has been received:

  We have heard Delfi-C3 and successfully decoded telemetry! We have received housekeeping data and all seems to be nominal. Packets are flowing in through our groundstation network!!

As of this writing, Delphi has been in space roughly eight hours and the team is contributing regular, Twitter-like posts to is web site.

[Udpate:] Here is some hard news about the successful launch. An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was used.

Wayne

Delphi C-3 launch set Monday, April 28

The Southgate Amateur Radio club has posted news that the Delphi C³ CubeSat - as well some others cubes on the manifest - will fly on April 28th, Monday. The satellite has been placed in its X-Pod and the launch vehicle rolled to its launch site, according to mission updates.

Working with Dutch companies, Delft University in the Netherlands will test a couple of technologies in space.

The image here is courtesy of the Dephi web site.

Wayne

(Blue)Grass-roots Space

Preparing for a ride to space, KySat team members - university students and academic advisers from colleges and universities in the commonwealth - have been working to get the cube ready to fly.

KySat is a consortium of public and private institutions in Kentucky that want to develop local talent in the space sciences, want to use a real project get kids excited about science in general and space in particular, and who aren't willing to wait around for someone else to do it.

Having built a proof of concept, the team members will soon begin testing it to shake out - literally and figurative - any problems that might need to be addressed in order to build the craft that will be sent to the launch provider.

Updating his recent presentation at the CubeSat Developers' Conference, Tyler supplied some added information today. Here it is:

The proof of concept, or engineering model, is complete and can be seen here on the right.

Flight Software Testing and Integration - All flight software is completed. We are currently doing some static analysis testing and gearing to start the final testing of the systems as a whole or as it will be on orbit.

Hardware Stack Completed - All hardware is complete and has been integrated. All of the images in the CubeSat Developers' presentation are of the engineering model we currently have working on the bench.

Mechanical Integration is ongoing. We will be doing some mass properties measurements Thursday (April 24). At that point, we will be measuring the center of gravity and moments of inertia on all three axes. I will hopefully have some good pictures to post.

Facilities Established - The thermal vacuum is currently pulling a vacuum and we are working on a thermal jacket to be placed around the cube to do thermal cycling. We are also working on the shaker system and are just in the process of developing some software profiles for the launch vehicle we'll be using. The point of this is to simulate the ride to orbit and the environmental conditions the cube will encounter in space.

Assembling Flight Model - After we get past vibration and thermal cycling and work out any problems that come up, we will start building the flight model. This is the model that will be sent to the launch provider. Looking at the schedule, we hope to begin building the flight model around the middle of June and do some testing as soon thereafter as possible.

Wayne

Academic "competitive launch program" envisioned

According to SpaceRef.com, The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is working on a new venture that would "create a competitive educational launch program for students in public schools and universities."

The effort would unite NMSA, the Air Force Research Lab Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base (AFRL), the X-Prize Foundation, the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University (NMSG), UP Aerospace and Microgravity Enterprises, Inc. (MEI).

The first "launch competition" is scheduled for the 2008 - 2009 academic year.

Wayne

KySat CubeSat talk available

All the presentations at the just-concluded CubeSat Developers' Conference have been posted, including Tyler's KySat update.

Wayne

KySat presentation CubeSat Developer's Workshop today

KySat will present results from Space Express and provide an update on the KySat-1 launch at the 5^th annual CubeSat Developers’ Workshop. Good luck guys! Wayne

News of Michigan cube

A team from the University of Michigan is building a cube that is slated to fly in the latter part of 2009. According to the article in the Michigan Daily:

  The project, called Michigan Multipurpose Minisat or M-Cubed, began last summer as the brainchild of three members of the Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory, a student aerospace design organization, said Engineering senior Kiril Dontchev, M-Cubed's project manager.

Wayne

Innovative Dutch Cube Launch Near

In a recent email Tyler reminded me that the Delphi-C³ launch is a mere 12 days away, linking to a photoblog the team has thrown up to document its experiences.

The Delphi team is currently near the launch site in India.

The mission will test a new type of thin film solar cells in the space environment. Using a wireless link for data transfer, an autonomous Sun Sensor will also be tested. And a third new technology deployed during the Delfi-C3 mission will be "an advanced high efficiency transceiver sized for application in pico- and nanosatellites."

The image on the right is a rendering of the satellite that can also be found on mission's media page.

Finally, the public forums on the main site also contain this just-published and nicely done overview (PDF) of the entire mission. Thanks for the tips, Tyler.

Wayne

SwissCube images

A library of pictures related to SwissCube, including some CAD drawings and images taken during assembly and testing, may be found here.

Wayne

An update on the satellite

In the run up to the development of engineering models and the beginning of testing, the team this week met with outside engineers for a review of satellite engineering and testing processes. The team had the equivalent to what NASA calls a Pre-Environmental Review.

Doing the environmental testing so that the delivered satellite will pass all the acceptance level testing at CalPoly is our current focus.

KySat is shooting for a July 1 deadline to deliver a satellite ready to fly.

Software development is nearing a conclusion. KySat is using the real time operating system supplied by Pumpkin. In two weeks the software team is expected to release v. 1.0 of its flight software.

The team will begin integration of the engineering model (spare) in about two and one-half weeks. In a previous integration last May the team found many problems that have since been addressed. Those fixes will be incorporated into this integration effort. The engineering model is an exact duplicate that will be used for a first run of environmental testing. Such testing is designed to ensure that the space craft will survive launch and the harsh space environment.

The biggest challenge right now is designing and locating test facilities for thermal and vacuum work.

Bakeout (to ensure no out-gassing will occur), vibration testing (to simulate launch) and vacuum and thermal cycle testing (to simulate on-orbit operations) needs to be done. Ideally, processes for doing all of this will be developed in-house, but a decision as to whether those processes will be outsourced could be made very soon.

About three or four weeks into this, we will start the construction of a flight model. The flight model will be the space craft that is shipped to the launch integrator.

All the effort put into the development of the engineering model should make flight model development go that much faster.

Tyler Doering

List of CubeSat missions

Some of you may already have this link, but I recently found a great list of CubeSat missions - including cube type, mission profiles, call signs and web sites - that I wanted to share. KySat is included.

Wayne

Machining SwissCube

This video demonstrating the machining of SwissCube was recently uploaded to YouTube.

Wayne

New UC-Irvine CubeSat home

The University of California at Irvine CubeSat team has a new web site and a launch window of January - February of 2009. The site features several nice images if you'd like to check it out.

Wayne

Smallsat scholarship competition

Space Prizes links to a smallsat student scholarship. The Frank J. Redd Student Scholarship will be awarded at the Small Satellite Conference in August in Logan, Utah. More information may be found here.

Wayne

ESA solicits CubeSat payloads for first Vega flight

ESA has released its official call for CubeSat proposals to fly an educational payload aboard the inaugural Vega flight in December. Detailed program specifications for potential participants may be found here. The equipment requirements are here. ESA:

In releasing this Call, the ESA Education Office recognises the growing importance of CubeSat projects as a key tool in providing university students with a valuable hands-on practical education across all space engineering disciplines from end-to-end through the complete space project lifecycle. By offering this flight opportunity, it is intended to strengthen the already active and growing European CubeSat community and foster a network of universities cooperating in this area in conjunction with ESA.

The launch opportunity on the Vega Maiden Flight is offered free of charge for up to 6 CubeSats, with an additional 2 backup CubeSats on stand-by.

Proposals are solicited from interested universities with CubeSat projects of sufficient maturity level to be able to meet the Vega Maiden Flight schedule (current target launch date of December 2008).

As mentioned earlier, CubeSat developers met in January in the Netherlands to discuss various proposals in advance of the official solicitation.

Wayne

GeneSat video narrative

Here's a well done video account of Santa Clara University students' experience working on the NASA ARC GeneSat-1 project narrated by one of the participants, Mike Rasay. 

Wayne

Delfi-C3 launch delay

The launch of the Delfi-C³ cubesat has been delayed.

Wayne

The science behind "flux-pinned" structures in space

Answering questions at Centauri Dreams, Dr. Mason Peck elaborates on the principles behind "flux pinning" large modular structures in space using non-contact principles drawn from his research into superconductivity. A Cornell graduate student has suggested using CubeSats to test these principles.

Wayne

Cubesats to test self-assembly principles?

Talk about formation flying. Could CubeSats be used to demonstrate newly discovered non-contact assembly principles that might be used to build large equipment and satellites in space?

Dr. Mason Peck, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell and director of the Space Systems Design Studio, is, according to Centauri Dreams 

investigating an unusual property of type II superconductors called magnetic flux pinning, which may provide an ideal technology for in-orbit self-assembly of modular spacecraft and satellite formations.

Tests have confirmed that objects can be "pinned" across a gap a few centimeters wide, but Peck would like to widen the gap "by a factor of 10 or 100."

This is where it gets interesting:

Cornell graduate student Joe Shoer hopes to launch a CubeSat demonstration of Peck’s non-contacting modular reconfigurable spacecraft design in a few years.

Guest blogging at Centauri Dreams, Larry Klaes of the Tau Zero Foundation also links to this Cornell site about modular reconfigurable spacecraft that may interest you.

Wayne

 

European university cubesat missions set for next December

At a cubesat workshop earlier this week in the Netherlands two dozen informal proposals for university payloads to fly next December on ESA's Vega, pictured here, were presented. It will be Vega's maiden flight.

Stanford Professor Bob Twiggs, who spoke at the inaugural KySat Workshop in Lexington last May, was among the speakers to address the assembled university students.

An official solicitation for proposals is expected soon on the ESA Education site.

Wayne

Image source: ESA launch vehicles

U of L student newspaper writes up Space Express

The Louisville Cardinal published an article today on the KySat Space Express mission, "Launch proves successful without going into space." Key quote:

Kentucky is paving the way to integrating love of learning and appreciation of engineering by giving students the opportunity to become a part of making history.

The Space Express category on the blog has more news and stories about the mission.

Wayne

Cubesat feed reminder

Just a reminder: Cubesat searches have turned up hits from a variety of sources about current and past projects, including this KySat mention from an English amateur radio club. I'm currently bookmarking these finds in del.icio.us and pulling them into the right sidebar of the blog. A feed is available if you'd like to subscribe to these bookmarks.

Wayne

Dragonfly: Solar Sail Cubesat

Since listening to participants describe how smallsats might play an outsized role in space at the 2007 KySat conference in Lexington, I've been interested in what might be done with them. Solar sails have also attracted my attention from time to time.

But a Cubesat that will deploy a solar sail certainly seems to up the engineering ante as well as the excitement level.

A news page (in French) about just such a project, Dragonfly, is here, video here. Alas, the last posting is from August and the project would appear to be in need of additional funds.

I also know of a group started at Stanford's Space and Systems Development Laboratory that has entertained a possible nanosatellite mission. SSDL is a contributor to and partner of KySat.

The Dragonfly material is linked courtesy of the Southgate Amateur Radio Club, which says that should it fly, the craft could be the first to successfully deploy a solar sail in space.

Wayne

Delfi-C3 launch set for Feb. 14

A new launch date for the University of Delft nanosat project has been set and it's February 14.

Check out the Delfi-C³ site for a nifty countdown clock and particulars of the project, including a nice graphic of the satellite, payload, bus, and ground station information.

Good luck with the launch!

The image is courtesy of the project's media page. Check out all the project pages - they certainly constitute one of the best CubeSat sites that I know.

Wayne

CubeSat program: "Pollux"

The Falls Church News Press makes note of this CubeSat project in Virginia:

Chantilly Academy, one of six high school academies within Fairfax County Public Schools, has developed a formal education partnership with the Naval Center for Space Technologies at the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., to support and expand pre-collegiate engineering education at the academy. This year, the academy is offering Independent Research–Engineering as a pilot course for selected seniors who have completed Engineering Systems 1 and 2.

Of the eight seniors currently placed in mentorship for independent research, four female students are the leading systems engineers for a fall 2009 launch of a Naval Research Laboratory CubeSat satellite project “Pollux” at the Naval Center for Space Technologies. The NRL has placed a satellite ground station in the engineering laboratory classroom at Chantilly Academy to monitor and gather data on a satellite currently in orbit.

KySat readers, I've created a category for CubeSat posts in the category list, right side of the blog, to capture other small sat and CubeSat projects as they are mentioned on KySat online.

Wayne

Swisscube

Here's a well done story about a Swiss CubeSat team produced by the European Space Agency and uploaded to YouTube just last week.

Competition to fly experiment aboard CubeSat announced

Teenagers in the United Kingdom will get the chance to design experiments for flight in space. Organized by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and Surry Satellite Technology (SSTL), the winning experiment must fit within 10x10x10cm, the size of a CubeSat, and is expected to fly by the third quarter of 2009.

Experiment proposals are due February 28.

More information on the design parameters may be found here.

Wayne