Student Satellites – a Potential Cradle for Academic Research and Development
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Student Satellites – A Potential Cradle for Academic Research and Development Engr. AKHTAR SAEED Lecturer Department of Electrical Engineering [email protected] DHA Suffa University 1 [email protected] Karachi, Pakistan Abstract • A tough competition for the space endeavors deem essential for future integrity. • Apart from the military and strategic needs, advent of the Student Satellites has opened a new panorama for research and development in the field of satellite communications. • Student Satellites are miniature satellites typically designed by students, academicians and researchers of educational institutions and universities for research and development purposes.* • Such satellites are designed to perform dedicated tasks such as meteorology, communications, remote area sensing by following linked algorithms. * Department of Space, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Paper Evaluation I. Introduction II. Global Student Satellites III. Student Satellites and Pakistan IV. Recommendations & Suggestions V. Conclusion I. Introduction Origin of Cube Satellites • The idea of CubeSat was preliminary conceived in 1995 during work on Stanford OPAL micro-satellite. • Some students in the class of micro-satellite design popped up with an idea of Pico-satellites, which weighs usually less than 1 kg [1] or corresponding to water of 10cm3 [3]. • Figure 1. A Premature Pico-satellite fabricated by Mike Hicks at Stanford I. Introduction cont’d Objectives • Some main objectives of developing such miniature satellites are [3]: • As a test-bed for newly-developed aero-space technologies newly-designed components need to be physically-tested in the real-world environment. • As a alternate to conventional satellites could be viable alternate to the conventional bulky satellites as they offer same services in lesser amount. could be a way-forward to counter the race of paper or virtual satellites which are responsible for the virtual congestion of the orbital spaces [4]. • As an observatory station can be a good option for observatory purposes for different aspects of space and earth effects e.g. thunder, weather anomaly and storms etc. • As a teaching-aid for students the students can grasp practical knowledge and understanding of satellites by experiencing hands-on practice on the R&D work. II. Global Student Satellites • The Delfi Program • The Norwegian Student Satellite Program – ANSAT • TU Berlin’s Student Satellite Concept • Polish Student Satellites • Danish CubeSat Student Satellite project – AAU • Indian Space Research Organization – ISRO II. Global Student Satellites The Delfi Program • Being run by the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, The Delfi Program offers space explorations to the Postgrad students. The program has launched the Delfi-C3 – a cube satellite. • This Nano-satellite has been engineering by the students and faculty of the institute which would function as a testbed for [5]: Thin Film Solar Cells (TFSC) Autonomous Wireless Sun Sensor (ACUSS) Nano-satellite-based VHF/UHF Linear Transponder. Figure 2: Delfi C3 Satellite The Norwegian Student Satellite Program – ANSAT • In the year 2006, the Norwegian Student Satellite Program ANSAT was commenced as a successive mission to NCUBE projects containing liftoff of 3-4 satellites. • The first satellite – HiNCube, is to be built by Narvik University College while the University of Oslo would build the second one – CubeSTAR [6]. The Norwegian Student Satellite Program – ANSAT Cont’d HiNCube CubeSTAR • Being built by a rigorous teams of • A part of the ANSAT, CubeSTAR’s students under faculty supervision, mission is to validate a novel approach HiNCube is following a task to orbit of “Space Weather”. The satellite Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) so that it could would investigate disruptions in the take aerial metaphors of the Earth navigational signals caused by the with the usage of its cameras and Aurora activities in the Polar Regions thermal sensors. [7] Figure 3: HiNCube Figure 4: CubeSTAR Figure 5: Signal disruptions from auroral activities Polish Student Satellites • The Poland launched its 1st student satellite • The second project – Pw-Sat2 would be the PW-Sat on 13 February 2012 into the earth next project to test the same de-orbitation orbit. sail technique. PWSat2 is expected to be launched in 2016 [9]. • The project is joint effort of the students and researchers of the University of Warsaw. • PW-Sat’s main objective was to test the idea of a ‘long tail’ expanded behind the satellite, thereby increasing substantially the satellite’s drag and subsequently quicken the orbital degradation. Figure 6: PW-Sat1 Figure 7: PW-Sat2 The main idea behind PW-Sat projects was to deal with the space debris [9]. • About 6000 human-made objects have been delivered to space so far since the space advent, i.e. 1957. • According to reports, an estimate of about 3600 orbiting objects is given to be present in orbits but only about 33% of them are functional. • Such objects in orbits could become a threat to the current facilities like Satellites, International Space Station (ISS) etc. [10], [11], as shown in Figure 8. Figure 8: Orbital Space Debris according to NASA Orbital Debris Quarterly News Indian Space Research Organization – ISRO • The Indian organization has made it possible for the educational institutions in India to actively participate in engineering satellites especially in the domain of student satellites. • ISRO provides technical support to such interesting educationalists and academicians in many means [14]: Payloads Fabrication Design and Engineering Some prominent student satellites by ISRO are: Satellite Mass (Kg) Launch Year SRMSat 10.9 2011 YOUTHSAT 92 2011 Jugnu 3 2010 STUDSAT <1 2010 ANUSAT 40 2009 III. Student Satellites and Pakistan A. Pakistan’s 1st student satellite ICUBE-1 • Students of Institute of Space and Technology (IST), Islamabad with the help of dedicated faculty made it possible for Pakistan to announce its first student satellite – ICUBE-1. • The satellite was launched on 21 November 2013 from Yasny Launch Base, Russia [15]. • ICUBE-1 is designed to orbit in the polar orbit at 600km from the Earth’s surface. Some chief specifications include [16], [17], [18]: To snap low-resolution images of space and Earth by the use of CMOS camera To relay Continuous Wave Morse-coded beacon Mass = 1.2 kg Volume = 10 cm3 VHF Band For Communication Passive Mechanism For Altitude Control Figure 9: ICUBE-1 B. Pakistan National Student Satellite Program – PNSSP SUPARCO has launched the Pakistan National Student Satellite Program (PNSSP). The program would enable the academia of Pakistan to pursue the R&D of satellite-related projects indigenously [19], [20]. Projected specifications of the PNSSP: a. Category = Pico-satellite b. Orbit = Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) at about 500 km c. Operating power = 50 watts d. Dimension = 50 cm3 e. Load = 50 kg f. Operational Lifespan = about 1 to 2 years Figure 10: Prototype of PNSSP g. Radio-controls (VHF/UHF-based) from ground stations at Karachi and Lahore. IV. Recommendations and Suggestions • Promoting the development of student satellites at the national level by the government by providing adequate funding to the national universities. • Such programs should be introduced at the university level which would encourage young engineers and researchers to undergo the projects enthusiastically. • SUPARCO should take necessary measures to arrange a national satellite launcher facility - Sonmiani Space Facility could prove to be the best-possible place [21]. • SUPARCO could initiate joint-ventures of fabricating student satellites. • we could obtain transfer-of-technology and foster in the field optimally in the prospective future of space explorations. V. Conclusion • Orbital congestion of satellites have become evident in the past decade. • student satellites have proved themselves to be a prospective space remedy for the same, as these Pico and Nano-satellites offer required space services with lesser space congestion and flexibility. • SUPARCO has already initiated PNSSP which would eventually prove to be a way- forward for the academia of Pakistan to promote, initiate and contribute to the national space cause. • Universities should also encourage and introduce such programs to facilitate the program in the best-possible manner. References References cont’d Thank You.