A Brief (incomplete) Small Sat History @ CU

1946

1948

Aer

osp

ace

Engi

nee

rin

g D

epar

tmen

t C

reat

edU

pp

er A

ir L

ab (

LASP

)C

reat

ed

1956

LASP

En

gin

eers

cre

ate

n

ew c

om

pan

y –

bec

om

es B

all A

ero

spac

e

1958

NA

SA F

orm

ed

Timeline mostly includes student centric milestones, details on all LASP project can be found at http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/missions-projects/

2008

CU

AES

/LA

SP s

tud

ents

wh

o

wo

rked

on

SN

OE

star

t B

lue

Can

yon

Te

chn

olo

gies

1965-1975

LASP

bu

ilds

inst

rum

ents

fo

r M

arin

er 5

,6,7

,8 &

91976-1989

Sola

r M

eso

sph

ere

Exp

lore

r (S

ME)

op

erat

ed

b

y C

U s

tud

ents

has

in

stru

men

ts b

uilt

by

LASP

on

a B

all b

us.

1995-2003

Stu

den

t N

itri

c O

xid

e Ex

plo

rer

(SN

OE)

sat

ellit

e an

d in

stru

men

ts b

uilt

an

d

op

erat

ed b

y A

ES/L

ASP

st

ud

ents

an

d p

rofe

ssio

nal

s2012

CSS

WE

Cu

beS

at la

un

ched

(A

ES/L

ASP

)

2014

2015 2018

DA

ND

E la

un

ched

(A

ES/C

OSG

C U

NP

-5)

Min

XSS

-1 C

ub

eSat

lau

nch

ed

Incl

ud

es S

/N 0

01

BC

T X

AC

T(A

ES/L

ASP

)

Min

XSS

-2 la

un

ch 2

Q1

8(A

ES/L

ASP

Cu

beS

at)

2017

QB

50

Cu

beS

at la

un

ched

2Q

(AES

)

2020

MA

XW

ELL

Cu

beS

at L

aun

ch [

NET

2Q

20

](A

ES U

NP

-9)

2004

3C

S la

un

ched

(C

OSG

C U

NP

-1&

2)

2014

ALL

-STA

R C

ub

eSat

lau

nch

ed

(CO

SGC

/LM

CO

)

2011

HER

MES

Cu

beS

at la

un

ched

(C

OSG

C)

2018

PO

LAR

Cu

be

Cu

beS

at L

aun

ch [

4Q

17

](C

OSG

C/E

CEE

UN

P-8

)

1989

CO

SGC

Fo

un

ded

2019

CU

-E3

Cu

beS

at S

LS L

aun

ch [

Net

4Q

19

](A

ES N

ASA

Cu

beQ

ues

tC

hal

len

ge)

2006

New

Ho

rizo

ns

lau

nch

es t

oP

luto

wit

h C

U s

tud

ent

bu

iltSt

ud

ent

Du

st C

ou

nte

r

2015

New

Ho

rizo

ns

arri

ves

atP

luto

wit

h C

U s

tud

ent

bu

iltSt

ud

ent

Du

st C

ou

nte

r

2001

AES

hir

es f

irst

Sm

all

Sat

Pro

fess

or

(Pal

o)

2015

AES

hir

es s

eco

nd

Sm

all

Sat

Pro

fess

or

(Mar

shal

l)

2005

AES

gra

du

ates

fir

st S

mal

lSa

t P

hD

(Sh

rive

r)

Jan 2014 - PresentAug 2009 - Jan 2015 Aug 2011 – May 2017

DANDE (39267)Launch Sep 2013331x1426km 81o

SpaceX Falcon-9 Flight #6

Challenger (42721)Launch Apr 2017

410x410km 51.2o [ISS]ULA ATLAS V [OA-7]

Jan 2007 – Mar 2014

MinXSS-1 (41474)Launch Dec 2015

402x402km 51.2o [ISS]ULA Atlas V [OA-4]

Recent SmallSat work at CUHeliophysics

CSSWE (38761)Launch Sep 2012442x777km 64.6o

ULA Atlas V [NROL-36]

MinXSS-2 CUTE

Launch 1Q20

MAXWELL

Launch NET 2Q20

Upcoming CU Cubesat Missions

CSIM

Launch 3Q18

CU-E3

Launch NET 4Q19Launch 2Q18SSO 575km

INSIPRE-SAT

Launch 4Q19

Heliophysics Earth Science AstrophysicsCentennial Challenge

Space Science

CU-E3Colorado Earth Escape Explorer

Part of the NASA CubeQuest Challenge

Demonstrate Deep Space CubeSat Com

Placed 4th in ground tournament #2

Placed 3rd in ground tournament #3

Placed 2rd in ground tournament #4

Selected for launch on EM-1

Enabled through AES graduate projectscurriculum

Builds on prior hardware development – X-bandradio

Prototyping novel X-band reflectarray

Leverage partnerships

BCT – XB1 small satellite bus with XACT ADCS

ATLAS ground station resources

Scheduled delivery, 2Q17

The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit

Experiment (CUTE)

A Dedicated Cubesat Mission for the study of

Exoplanetary Mass Loss and Magnetic Fields

University of Colorado:Kevin France (PI), Brian Fleming (PS), Nicholas Nell, Richard Kohnert (PM), Kelsey Pool, ArikaEgan, Keri Hoadley, Stefan Ulrich

United States:Tommi Koskinen (UoA), Matthew Beasley (PRI)

Europe:Luca Fossati (ÖAW), Aline Vidotto (TCD), Jean-Michel Desert (Amsterdam), Pascal Petit (UdT)

Objectives and Description

Status and Approach Industry Application

Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE): Mass-Loss and Magnetic Fields in Extreme Environments

NASA’s Strategic Goals:

“Seeking to discover and

study planets orbiting other stars”

“Advance the Nation’s STEM

education and workforce pipeline”

• Escaping atmospheres of short-period planets are best probed with high-opacity atomic species entrained in the outflow found at ultraviolet wavelengths

• The presence and strength of (exo)planetary magnetic fields can be diagnosed by studying transit light curve asymmetries.

• CUTE will carry out near-UV transit spectroscopy to measure atmospheric escape rates and potentially discover magnetic fields on 12 – 20 short-period planets over a 7 month science mission

6U cubesat (BCT) housing an f/2.6

Cassegrain telescope feeding a

compact, low resolution (R = 3000)

spectrograph operating from 2550 –

3300 Å. The spectrogram is recorded

on a UV-optimized e2v CCD.

• NASA-supported program (2017) employing a team of undergraduate and graduate students from science and engineering departments as well as LASP researchers and faculty.

• Expose students to a complete NASA mission: from proposal to development to launch

• Orbital observatory-class science on a suborbital budget

• Nominal Q1-2020 launch

Kevin France – University of Colorado

Compact Spectral Irradiance Monitor (CSIM) CubeSat

PI: Dr. Erik Richard

• NASA Earth Science division science mission to fill the climate record gap for the solar spectral irradiance (SSI) in the 200-2400 nm range (near UV, visible, near IR).

• 6U CubeSat with CSIM prism spectrometer and with spacecraft bus from Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT).

• CSIM CubeSat launch is planned for Sept. 2018 into SSO at 500 km altitude for a 5-year mission.

• New S-band ground station is being added this year. CSIM is 3rd generation

of SIM and is 1/10 the mass of original SIM

INSPIRESat-1 Breakdown of Responsibilities

INSPIRESAt-1 Summary

INSPIRESat-1 Assembly

INSPIRESat-1 – Science Objectives

INSPIRESat-1 - Ionosphere observations

• INSPIRESat-1 is scheduled for launch in Q4 of 2019 on an ISRO PSLV

• The satellite is being built jointly by CU, NCU (Taiwan) and IIST (India)

The Compact Ionosphere Probe consists of a Planar Langmuir Probe, Retarding Potential Analyzer, Ion Trap and Ion Drift Meter

• Observe occurrence and evolution of equatorial Plasma bubbles.

• Observe Midnight Temperature Maximum features.

• Observe Ion/electron temperatures, density and velocities