Microsatellite Program

Overview

While in-class work is essential to a student's learning process, hands-on experience is also invaluable to an engineer's education. Historically, project-based education has been a part of the education of upperclass and graudate students. Increasingly, however, underclassmen and even high school students (in cooperative projects) have been exposed to project-based learning. ARES seeks to take advantage of this trend by instituting innovative microsatellite projects at universities in the state. There have been microsatellite projects undertaken by schools in Florida before, and there are a number of projects throughout the world. ARES seeks to establish a sustainable program of microsatellite development in the state.

Some skills can only be, or best be learned in a hands-on environment. Technical problem solving, project managment, team leadership and teamwork in a real-world setting are vital skills in industry. Students who have acquired those skills prior to graduation greatly increase their market value in the private and public sector.

Spacecraft development is inherently multidisciplinary in nature. The microsatellite program will attract students in many engineering fields, math, astrophysics, aerodynamics, the sciences, but it will not be limited to students in those fields.

Goals of the Program

• To provide hands-on experience in a multidiscplinary team-oriented space-related project including mission operations
• To bring together university upperclassmen and graduate students in multi-university teams partnered with industry
• Promote and teach cooperative learning, teamwork, leadership and problem-solving skills
• Apply the skills and interests developed in the program to all areas and subjects of learning

What Is A Microsatellite?

The commercial satellite industry is typified by the geostationary communications satellite, with masses anywhere from 1,000 kg. to over 5,000 kg. The trend is for spacecraft masses to continue to increase. Recently a 10,000 lb. communication satellite was launched, signifying the continuin trend toward large spacecraft in the traditional markets. Even weather satellites, earth observation spacecraft, astronomical observation spacecraft and other "traditional" satellites are being built larger and more complex every year.

For many other applications, there have been trends towards smaller spacecraft, with particular emphasis on reducing cost and development time scales. The definitions of spacecraft sizes are subjective but fall roughly in line with the table below, which are the figures we use. Mission design and purpose are also important because small satellites in the 21st century have orders of magnitude more complexity and capability than the small satellites that dominated the early years of the space age. For our own purposes, we call anything with a mass under 200lb a "microsatellite".

Small satellites have their history, roots, in the amateur satellite world. The first "microsatellite" was OSCAR 1, for "Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio". This spacecraft rode piggyback on a Delta launcher in 1961, and so also pioneered the technique of "secondary payloads". In the 40 years since, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, AMSAT, in the U.S. and AMSAT organizations worldwide have launched dozens of useful and capable small satellites.

Small satellite projects are characterized by rapid development timetables for experimental missions when compared with the conventional space industry. A spacecraft mission can be developed from design to launch in less than three years, even as little as under a year. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology is utilized in order to bring down costs, increase flexibility of design and increase reliability and reproducibility. This allows for smaller and lighter spacecraft systems to be developed and for standard spacecraft designs to be created, which lowers procurement costs.

Typical missions for small satellites include low-cost communications and amateur radio, research and developmental testing of new components, materials and processes applicable to larger spacecraft, low-cost interplanetary missions, earth imaging, and a wide array of other uses. The future promises to see new markets develop.