Delft University of Technology Delfi-PQ: the First Pocketqube Of
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Delft University of Technology Delfi-PQ: The first pocketqube of Delft University of Technology Radu, Silvana; Uludag, Sevket; Speretta, Stefano; Bouwmeester, Jasper; Gill, Eberhard; Chronas Foteinakis, Nikitas Publication date 2018 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Published in Proceedings of 69th International Astronautical Congress Citation (APA) Radu, S., Uludag, S., Speretta, S., Bouwmeester, J., Gill, E., & Chronas Foteinakis, N. (2018). Delfi-PQ: The first pocketqube of Delft University of Technology. In Proceedings of 69th International Astronautical Congress: Bremen, Germany [IAC-18-B4.6B. 5] Bremen, Germany: International Astronautical Federation, IAF. Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. 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IAC-18-B4.6B. 5 DELFI-PQ: THE FIRST POCKETQUBE OF DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Silvana Radu, Mehmet Sevket Uludag, Stefano Speretta, Jasper Bouwmeester, Eberhard Gill, Nikitas Foteinakis Abstract Delft University of Technology has embarked on PocketQubes to showcase as the next class of miniaturized satellites. In the past decade, CubeSats have grown towards a successful business with mature capabilities. PocketQubes, however, are still in their infancy. The small size of the PocketQubes will trigger innovations in miniaturization and will force one to think differently about space technology. It is not sufficient to simply down- scale existing concepts used in CubeSats, there is a necessity to develop and qualify completely new components through which new applications can be enabled in the future. The new satellite platform, called Delfi-PQ, inspired by the success of previous Delfi satellite projects is seen as an opportunity for innovation and offers research challenges in the miniaturization field of systems and components. The focus of this paper is to highlight those innovations and challenges, and to communicate the progress that has been made with respect to building a core platform and standardized bus. The mission of Delfi-PQ is to demonstrate a reliable core bus and outer structure for a three unit PocketQube that shall be tested in flight as a first iteration of a series of PocketQubes to be developed by Delft University of Technology. The core bus shall fit in one unit - 1P (50x50x50mm), having as aim that after further miniaturization and optimization, the second unit shall contain an advanced subsystem (e.g. advanced Attitude Determination and Control System - ADCS) and the third unit shall consist of a scientific payload (e.g micro-propulsion, lensless camera). For Delfi-PQ, the focus was on the miniaturization process and on the structure of the PocketQube. The core platform of the first Delfi-PQ consists of the Electrical Power System (including two 3.7V batteries and solar panels with two cells/each X-Y face), On-board Computer, Communications System, ADCS (including two magnetorquers and three magnetometers), as well as: temperature sensors and two different sensors for assessing the rotational speed of the PocketQube. IAC-18- B4.6B.5 Page 1 of 10 69th International Astronautical Congress, Bremen, Germany. Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved. I. INTRODUCTION directly on actuators and sensors and on assuring that The overall technological advance that has been the designed FDIR is robust enough in order to occurring in the past decades in all fields of science is differentiate the output disturbances from the actual exponentially growing and advancing in the direction failures. For the first iteration of Delfi-PQ, this does of miniaturization. Particularly, in space domain, the not represent an issue, however it is expected to be rapid and spectacular evolution started in 1957 when needed in the future as for the next versions, an the first artificial satellite was launched. The rapid advanced ADCS will be added to the core system. decrease in size and advancement in components and Section V will consist of the testing and launch products specifications was possible due to the planning. Challenges with respect to finding a launch miniaturization in electronics. Nowadays, the and a deployer for this form factor will also be accurate and performant existing on-board attended in this section. instruments that can operate at high capacity can Section VI will comprise of conclusions and make spacecraft fully autonomous. In the past fifteen future work plans with respect to the development of years, a new miniaturized satellite of a reduced form PocketQubes. factor became popular through strict standardization, The long-term goal of Delfi-PQ is to develop a emerging into a flourishing business of space core platform which secures basic functionalities and industry: CubeSats. They represent satellites of shall iteratively evolve over time. Given the fact that roughly 100x100x100 mm and several combinations TU Delft is a university, it is desired that as many of these cubes can be emerged into a bigger satellite students as possible work on the developed satellite. if needed. TU Delft was one of the pioneers in All Delfi missions had a clear objective for designing, developing, manufacturing and launching education, technology demonstration and innovation. a 3U CubeSat called DelfiC3. However, because this It is intended that once the first iteration of the form factor is fully standardized and after so many satellite is validated, there will always be a launch- years, this side of space industry is still experiencing worthy satellite in the cleanroom. This can provide a growing business, TU Delft oriented towards a new hands-on experience to students based on the miniaturized version of the CubeSats, the previous settled baseline gained through the launch of PocketQube. This type of satellite represents a the first PocketQube of TU Delft. platform of approximately 50x50x50 mm per unit and at the time when TU Delft started the Phase A of the project, no standardization existed. In the meantime, TU Delft along with other partners interested in the same form factor published a first revision of the PocketQube Standard [1] that will be also presented in section II of this paper. Within section III a detailed description of the mission and the afferent challenges in designing the satellite will be described. Due to the fact that Delfi- PQ (Figure 1) represents the first PocketQube developed by TU Delft, the aim is to set a mechanical standard for this type of satellite and flight test the structure as well as validating in flight the designed and developed core bus. At the moment it is foreseen that a thermal payload provided by an external partner will be integrated, however this depends on the launch date and timeline compatibility. Section IV will contain a description of the implemented operational modes and the desired FDIR (Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery) which will be designed based on the OBC (On-board Computer Modes) modes. Since the complexity of the PocketQube is not high, the FDIR will be a simple system that makes sure the boot loop is respected and safe mode, as well resets, are applied accordingly with every failure. In theory, the FDIR can be very complicated even for a simplistic system. The most pressing problem encountered depends Figure 1 Delfi-PQ IAC-18- B4.6B.5 Page 2 of 10 69th International Astronautical Congress, Bremen, Germany. Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved. II. POCKETQUBE STANDARD For more clarification on how the plate slides out The idea of this new form factor was first of the deployer, see Figure 3. presented and proposed in 2009 by Prof. Robert J. Twiggs in collaboration with Morehead State University (MSU) and Kentucky Space [2,3]. As first showcased, the so called PocketQubes represent a cube-shaped platform of 50x50 mm with an approximated mass of 250 g. The first launched PocketQube was through UniSat5 mission [2,3]. The first revision of the new standard published in July 2018 comprises of an alignment in dimensions between the main players within the PocketQube Community: TU Delft, Alba Orbital and Gauss Srl. The aim of the published document is to manage to Figure 3 Sliding backplate clamping converge towards common numbers and interfaces The first revision of the published standard [1] for a PocketQube platform. Due to the lack of such presents the mechanical requirements which were the standard, uncertainties with respect to exterior most pressing issues of the development of this type dimensions were disputed, which blocked the of satellite. Among the dimensions of both the cube PocketQube Community from growing. and the sliding backplate, other important aspects The overall long-term goal is to continue the were clarified