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An Introduction to CubeSats
- syntaxing 8y agoIt seriously impresses me everytime I read about CubeSats. I still remember the first couple times there was a Kickstarter for the CubeSat when the idea came out. Admittedly, I scoffed at the idea because I didn't think it was feasible. I'm pretty happy to be proven wrong.
- josteink 8y agoTo impress you even further, cubesats were a thing long before Kickstarter existed. I wrote my masters thesis on one back in 2003, and it was launched in 2004. Even back then this was such an established concepts there were niche conferences for it.
- tectonic 8y agoDecent intro to CubeSat hardware. If you want to know about CubeSat software, let me know. The company I work for, Kubos, builds an open source OS for small satellites: https://www.kubos.com/kubos/ https://www.kubos.com/kubos/ (I work on our web-based ground control software, Major Tom.)
- tectonic 8y ago(Self promotion warning!) If you find space science, CubeSat engineering, and space startup news interesting, I'm starting a short weekly newsletter that I think you will enjoy. https://goo.gl/forms/uGi2AL7ELpJK86bx2 https://goo.gl/forms/uGi2AL7ELpJK86bx2
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- braum 8y agoHow does Kubos make money and fund full time employees and future updates?
- tectonic 8y agoWe sell Major Tom, our ground control software, and support contracts for KubOS.
- elteto 8y agoInteresting approach to flight software. Where are you guys based? Are you hiring?
- tyldum 8y ago(Say hi to Marshall!) And if someone has any questions about the ground side of things I work at KSAT which provides a global network of ground stations (both cubes and larger). We often find sat builders completely forgetting about the ground segment and then struggle to communicate with the cube. Often by using exotic encoding and/or modulation schemes or choosing frequency bands that are either too crowded or hard to license in some parts of the world.
- tomp 8y agoDoes it make sense to run a ground station as a business, renting out the bandwidth to those who need it?
- Corrado 8y agoAWS recently announced their ground station service[0] to do just this. At the time I didn't understand why they would build such a service, but reading this article and setting your comment brought it into focus for me. [0] https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/ https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/
- elkos 8y agoAlternatively if you want to have open data and share it with the community you can set up a SatNOGS ground station. Even if you don't have a Cubesat in the works. Check out wiki.satnogs.org
- tyldum 8y agoYeah, it's big business actually. Having ground stations at the right spot means a lot, but the equipment is expensive (but getting cheaper every year now). We multi-tenant our assets to provide a cost effective solution and aid in getting those licenses. From the links others posted you can see that AWS recently launched a service to compete head to head with us. It's certainly interesting to be targeted by them, to say the least.
- coupdejarnac 8y agoCool. I think I've met you guys at the DEC.
- btmiller 8y agoHope yall are doing well! I had no idea this industry existed until Ryan showed me one of the tiny cubesats in the office! Curious if you receive any branding confusion over Kubos versus Kubernetes?
- tectonic 8y agoHello! I'm not aware of anyone confusing the two.
- taneq 8y ago> (I work on our web-based ground control software, Major Tom.) Does it ever bug you that ground control is Major Tom?
- anon1253 8y agoAs an amateur astrophotographer I’ve been following the development of cubesats closely. It seems more and more likely that a small group or an individual would be able to launch a space based telescope within my life time. Right now it’s a bit tricky still, and not really sure if you’re allowed to have a camera in space yet (might be considered espionage). But still, extremely cool ... maybe someday soon a crowd funded mini Hubble might be an option!
- tectonic 8y agoCheck out Spacefab: https://wefunder.com/spacefab https://wefunder.com/spacefab
- pdabbadabba 8y agoIf you're in the U.S., and are interested in the licensing issue, this is probably the page you want: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/CRSRA/licenseHome.html https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/CRSRA/licenseHome.html It is indeed an issue, but a surmountable one.
- pushedx 8y agoThe question I ask when small satellites are promoted is, how do we avoid Kessler syndrome? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
- tectonic 8y agoCubeSats are low mass and tend to be in low orbits that decay in time periods between a few weeks and 10 years. Also, all modern satellites have to be launched with a deorbit plan.
- pvarangot 8y agoI'm not sure the de-orbit plan thing is successfully being enforced by any launcher. That being said kessler's syndrome impact are usually over-exaggerated by "big space" as a reaction the disruption going on in the business.
- benj111 8y agoWell it says there are 600,000 pieces of space junk. But that's spread out over a large area. The area of the earth is 510million km2, so worst case (all on the same plane, at ground level) that's 850km2 for every item of 'junk'. I don't see that being sufficient density for a domino effect. I suppose it depends on how uniform the cloud density is.
- bagels 8y agoIt's not uniform at all. Most objects are in high inclination orbits, which means many intersect near the poles.
- ummonk 8y agoCube says are in rather low orbits and have a high surface area to mass ratio so they decay rather rapidly. Not really a big deal as far as space junk goes.
- benj111 8y ago"To answer that, let’s first define a U. A U is 10x10x10 cm cube of space from which cubesats derive their name" So, what's a U? Is it a mathematical constant, or just arbitrary?
- tectonic 8y agoA "U" is a Unit, which was arbitrarily defined as a 10x10x10 cm cube.
- benj111 8y agoI cant tell if you're being facetious. Does U just literally stand for unit then?
- tectonic 8y agoI believe so, yes.
- benj111 8y agoOk thanks ?!
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y agoYou'll see this in server hardware as well... 1U servers, 2U servers..
- sizzzzlerz 8y agodifferent size, however. in servers and equipment racks, 1U = 1.75 inches.
- isostatic 8y agoHeight wise. Width is 19” Depth varies dramatically - from maybe 1” to 1m
- iracigt 8y agoI'm part of the same University at Buffalo group as the author. If this interests you, we've open-sourced some of our stuff, including a VHF/UHF communications radio and star-tracker software. Radio: http://lfradio.space http://lfradio.space GitHub: https://github.com/UBNanosatLab https://github.com/UBNanosatLab
- vinayan3 8y agoPlanet Money did a series about going to space. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/12/01/567267573/planet-money-goes-to-space https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/12/01/567267573/plan... They went over the history and changing economics of CubeSats.
- bogomipz 8y agoI apologize if this is a silly question but given that this "democratizes" satellites, is anybody allowed to launch satellites into orbit? Or is there some formal application or protocol that people and companies need to adhere to in doing so?
- tomp 8y agoYeah, launch providers (“rockets”) need to be certified by bouth their country of incorporation and the country they launch the rocket from. But law between countries doesn’t need to be synchronised.
- bArray 8y agoFor a long time now I have been very interested in sending my own satellite up as a hobbyist project. I have a good background in software, electronics and hardware (top to bottom robotics), but not a solid background in physics. A few questions: 1. What's the cheapest you can put a satellite in space (in terms of launch) and for how long would it orbit at that cost? Size wouldn't really be too much of a problem (I can go as low as 3x3x3 cm at a push). 2. Are there strict limitations about what you are allowed to put up into space? (In terms of components and contamination). Also in terms of transforming - is it allowed to unfold? 3. Do the satellites have to undergo some formal testing to be allowed on the space craft? What's that process and how much does it cost? I imagine they can't risk it blowing up or falling apart? 4. Has anybody looked to sub-divide the cubesat 10x10x10 into 8 smaller satellites? If you could somehow keep them all attached in fixed locations, you could have a much larger sensor surface area at a low cost. 5. How do they get the satellites to the launch location and how long does it have to be there in advance? I think using reaction wheels is good for rotation and I don't think propulsion will be as "easily" possible. Compliant communications would be the most difficult part in my opinion, trying to keep it low power and effective. As for the actual mission of the project, I'm still not decided. It could be cool to host some kind of server from space, but just throwing some hobbyist sensors up there and seeing how they behave would also be good. Thank you in advance for any help with those questions.
- Bonooru 8y agoI worked in a lab for the US government building cubesats for a summer during college. I can't answer everything, here are a few answers. 1. Last time I heard pricing per pound to orbit was ~$10,000 per pound. This was for the shuttle though, so I don't know if this has changed. 2. I would guess this depends on the launch provider. Whoever's launch you're piggybacking off of will probably get to make this decision. I never heard of any real restrictions, but this wasn't my area of expertise. 3. You'd be right about that. I don't know about pricing, but your payload will need to go through vibration testing and the like 4. No clue on this one 5. You'd probably have to physically make the trip (and I'd think you'd want to. Seeing a launch is always cool). Timing will depend on whose launch you're piggy backing off of, but we needed to have everything done a few weeks before launch day. Hope this helped a bit.
- NelsonMinar 8y agoThe recent Mars lander mission included a pair of 6U cubesats used to relay communications. They worked great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Cube_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Cube_One
- planteen 8y agoI worked on the software for the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) for the MarCO spacecraft.
- NelsonMinar 8y agoWell congratulations! Was it fun? Is working on a cubesat radically different than other types of satellites, or do the control systems end up working more or less the same?
- planteen 8y agoNot radically different. The company that did this work was staffed with engineers who had experience on larger spacecraft. The fundamental algorithms are the same. The difference is that everything is much smaller - less momentum, so less large reaction wheels, etc. The nice part is that you can use commercial parts, so you get access to much more modern electronics than old rad hard parts.
- EGreg 8y agoWhy do you need to send up atoms when you can beam up bits?
- int_19h 8y agoTo beam bits down.
- EGreg 8y agoI am saying rent cubesat software like AWS. Why send more hardware?
- int_19h 8y agoBecause you need certain sensors over a certain location on Earth? I don't think we're at the point yet where such needs can be covered by renting.
- EGreg 8y agoWe have enough cubesats to make that happen. You can rent time slices for software. That’s like saying you need to access certain sectors of a hard disk.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoThere are two important reasons for creating and launching cubesats: 1) Learning opportunity - that's how people get experience with space technologies. 2) Equipment testbeds - companies that would like to sell technology for use in space need to prove it actually works in space. If you can get a CubeSat project to use your component (by e.g. donating it + some money) as a part of their satellite, you can test it in space for much cheaper than it would take to build an entire satellite on your own. It meshes nicely with 1), as people who want to learn space technologies tend to not have money to build and launch satellites on their own. As for your original question: we're far from the point of having all necessary sensors in orbit. There's not much to rent out yet.
- elkos 8y agoHi. If you are into open hardware and free software don't hesitate to check https://libre.space https://libre.space a non profit developing open source space technologies We've built SatNOGS a global ground station network https://network.satnogs.org https://network.satnogs.org with more than 100 stations online globally and 50 more in testing build by volunteers We've also built the first Cubesat under CERNs OHL license. https://upsat.gr https://upsat.gr