• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.219-228
• /
• 2020

A CubeSat platform has become a popular choice due to inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and low launch cost. However, it requires more power-efficient and higher-data rate downlink capability for space applications related to remote sensing. In addition, the platform is limited by the size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints as well as the regulatory issue of licensing the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The requirements and limitations have put optical communications on promising alternatives to RF communications for a CubeSat platform, owing to the power efficiency and high data rate as well as the license free spectrum. In this study, we analyzed the performance of optical downlink communications compatible with CubeSat platforms in terms of data rate, bit error rate (BER) and outage probability. Mathematical models of BER and outage probability were derived based on not only the log-normal model of atmospheric turbulence but also a transmitter with a finite extinction ratio. Given the fixed slot width, the optimal guard time and modulation orders were chosen to achieve the target data rate. And the two performance metrics, BER and outage data rate, were analyzed and discussed with respect to beam divergence angle, scintillation index and zenith angle.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.579-592
• /
• 2016

CNUSAIL-1, to be launched into low-earth orbit, is a cubesat-class satellite equipped with a $2m{\times}2m$ solar sail. One of CNUSAIL's missions is to deploy its solar sail system, thereby deorbiting the satellite, at the end of the satellite's life. This paper presents the design results of the attitude control system for CNUSAIL-1, which maintains the normal vector of the sail by a 3-axis active attitude stabilization approach. The normal vector can be aligned in two orientations: i) along the anti-nadir direction, which minimizes the aerodynamic drag during the nadir-pointing mode, or ii) along the satellite velocity vector, which maximizes the drag during the deorbiting mode. The attitude control system also includes a B-dot controller for detumbling and an eigen-axis maneuver algorithm. The actuators for the attitude control are magnetic torquers and reaction wheels. The feasibility and performance of the design are verified in high-fidelity nonlinear simulations.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.533-537
• /
• 2013

Space telescope optics is one of the major parts of any space mission used to observe astronomical targets or the Earth. This kind of space mission typically involves bulky and complex opto-mechanics with a long optical tube, but attempts have been made to observe a target with a small satellite. In this paper, we describe the optical design of a reflecting telescope for use in a CubeSat mission. For this design we adopt the off-axis segmented method for astronomical observation techniques based on a Ritchey-Chr$\acute{e}$tien type telescope. The primary mirror shape is a rectangle with dimensions of $8cm{\times}8cm$, and the secondary mirror has dimensions of $2.4cm{\times}4.1cm$. The focal ratio is 3 which can yield a 0.383 degree diagonal angle in a $1280{\times}800$ CMOS color image sensor with a pixel size of $3{\mu}m{\times}3{\mu}m$. This optical design can capture a ${\sim}4km{\times}{\sim}2.3km$ area of the earth's surface at 700 km altitude operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.432-439
• /
• 2015

MEMS solid thruster module is composed of solid thruster and its control board. It was developed for the purpose of an academic research. Therefore, thermo-mechanical design and verification for space usage were not considered in the design phase. To mount it on a cube satellite without any design modification, technical efforts at the system level structure design is required. In this study, we proposed a structural design concept to mount the MEMS thruster module by using brackets for guaranteeing structure safety under launch loads and easier mating and de-mating of MEMS thruster module during test phase. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through structural analysis and vibration test. In addition, electrical connection method using spring pins between MEMS thruster and control board is effective for guaranteeing the structural safety under launch vibration loads.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.109-116
• /
• 2022

The small-scale magnetospheric and ionospheric plasma experiment (SNIPE) is a mission initiated by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in 2017 and comprises four 6U-sized nano-satellites (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute Satellite-1, KASISat-1) flying in formations. The main goal of the SNIPE mission is to investigate the space environment in low Earth orbit at 500-km. Because Iridium & GPS Board (IGB) is installed on the KASISat-1, a communication simulation is required to analyze the contact number and the duration. In this study, communication simulations between the Iridium satellite network and KASISat-1 are performed using STK Pro (System Tool Kit Pro Ver 11.2) from the AGI (Analytical Graphics, Inc.). The contact number and durations were analyzed by each orbit and date. The analysis shows that the average access number per day is 38.714 times, with an average of 2.533 times per orbit for a week. Furthermore, on average, the Iridium satellite communication is linked for 70.597 min daily. Moreover, 4.625 min is the average duration of an individual orbit.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.117-129
• /
• 2020

In a Satellite communication system, a link budget analysis is the detailed investigation of signal gains and losses moving through a channel from a sender to receiver. It inspects the fading of passed on data signal waves due to the process of spreading or propagation, including transmitter and receiver antenna gains, feeder cables, and related losses. The extent of the proposed tool is to make an effective, efficient, and user-friendly approach to calculate link budget analysis. It is also related to the satellite communication correlation framework by building up a graphical interface link analysis tool utilizing STK^® software with the interface of C# programming. It provides better kinds of graphical display techniques, exporting and importing data files, printing link information, access data, azimuth-elevation-range (AER), and simulation is also possible at once. The components of the link budget analysis tool include transmitter gain, effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), free space loss, propagation loss, frequency Doppler shift, flux density, link margin, elevation plot, etc. This tool can be useful for amateur users (e.g., CubeSat developers in the universities) or nanosat developers who may not know about the RF communication system of the satellite and the orbital mechanics (e.g., orbit propagators) principle used in the satellite link analysis.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.526-534
• /
• 2016

A MEMS solid propellant thruster array shall be operated within an allowable range of operating temperatures to avoid ignition failure by incomplete combustion due to a time delay in ignition. The structural safety of the MEMS thruster array under severe on-orbit thermal conditions can also be guaranteed by a suitable thermal control. In this study, we propose a thermal control strategy to perform on-orbit verification of a MEMS thruster module, which is expected to be the primary payload of the STEP Cube Lab mission. The strategy involves, the use of micro-igniters as heaters and temperature sensors for active thermal control because an additional heater cannot be implemented in the current design. In addition, we made efforts to reduce the launch loads transmitted to the MEMS thruster module at the system level structural design. The effectiveness of the proposed thermo-mechanical design strategy has been demonstrated by numerical analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.92-99
• /
• 2008

KOMSAT-5 will attach an laser retroreflector array for precise orbit determination. Laser retroreflector array was developed by DFZ in Germany and have pyramid type composed of four corner cube prisms. In this paper, the performance analyses as effective area of retroreflector and photons measured by link budget and position of ground station were performed.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.36-41
• /
• 2014

KAFASAT is a CubeSat which has a high level mission of testing the possibility of establishing the LEO satellite constellation providing the role of communication nodes and quasi-realtime image recognition of battlefield in accordance with the aspect of future-war-environment. The high level mission is developed using the Pugh selection method, which is one of system engineering tools. In order to accomplish the high level mission objectives and deduce engineering level requirements, system engineering tools such as Analytic Hierarchy Process and Quality Function Deployment are used. The subsystem synthesis in the context of system engineering process is done using a developed integrated design environment. The paper also includes the conceptual design results of the KAFASAT, which can be used as a baseline for upcoming preliminary design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.114-123
• /
• 2017

Little Intelligent Nanosatellite of KAIST(LINK) is a 2U-size CubeSat which is developed by Aerospace Systems & Control Lab.(ASCL) of KAIST as a part of the international cooperation project QB50. The objective of the QB50 project is to carry out atmospheric research within the lower thermosphere and ionosphere and CubeSats are planned to be deployed at the International Space Station(ISS) from the first quarter of 2017. To implement this objective, a flight model(FM) of LINK has been successfully developed and the design and performance of the satellite have been verified by performing environment and function tests in accordance with acceptance requirement level. This paper describes the development of flight model and the results of vibration and thermal vacuum test.