NASA’s CubeSat Initiative: 10 New Missions Promote Education and Technological Advancement

2024-03-29 21:05:33

NASA selected 10 small satellites from each of eight countries for the International Space Station, while improving educational and scientific opportunities. Credit: twoday.co.il.com

NASA’s CubeSat initiative is supporting 10 new missions to promote educational and technological advancement using modular satellites. These include diverse university and K-12 school projects focused on scientific research and sustainable space technology.

NASA has selected 10 small research satellites across eight countries to fly to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s efforts to expand opportunities for education and science, support technological advancement, and provide for workforce development.

These small satellites, or CubeSats, use a standard size and shape measured in units. One unit (1U) is 10x10x11 centimeters in size and allows for a modular design of larger CubeSats up to 12U in size. CubeSats encourage greater collaboration between government, industry and academia because they are modular and cheap to build and launch. The small satellites enable rapid development and are a cost-effective means for scientific investigations and technological demonstrations in space.

University of Michigan students work on measuring the actuator response and on-orbit (MARIO) CubeSat launching to the International Space Station in November 2022. Credit: University of Michigan

This year’s selections include the first project from Delaware, three from minority-serving institutions, and a submission from a K-12 school. New participants include the University of Delaware, the Oakwood School of California, California State University, Long Beach, California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and the University of Chicago.

NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected the missions, currently scheduled to launch between 2025 and 2028, in response to a call for proposals on August 7, 2023.

The full list of organizations and CubeSats selected during CSLI’s 15th round of selection are:

• University of Louisiana at Lafayette – CAPE-Twiggs (Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment) will serve as the first prototype 3U CubeSat designed to contain and launch SlimSat modules bound to very low Earth orbit. Having launched successful CubeSat missions in the past, the university’s current project will work with a number of other schools with little or no experience in designing, building and operating their own SlimSat module. CAPE-Twiggs will enhance both STEM education and the ability to conduct conventional and collaborative space-based experiments on a larger scale.
• Oakwood School in California – NyanSat is a 2U CubeSat designed and built by an independent K-12 school in rural California. This mission will serve as a template for educational outreach and space technology development. NyanSat includes several technological development payloads, each designed to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of various new systems in the space environment. These include the acoustic mapping of the spacecraft and the sound payload, which aims to simplify the sensor architectures in the spacecraft and provide complementary information about the mission, and the encryption ledgers in the space payload, which are designed to verify the feasibility of space-based digital notaries for Earth and geography transactions.
• University of Hawaii at Manoa – CREPES (CubeSat Relative Electron and Proton Energy Separator) Its purpose is to study energetic solar particle events and increase our knowledge of the Sun. CREPES will fly a new type of micropatterned gas detector using gas-electron multipliers to amplify fluorescence signals. Data obtained from these measurements are expected to contribute to the understanding of space weather and the development of space climatology. The University of Hawaii at Manoa is a minority-serving institution and has previously launched a CubeSat with the program.
• California State University, Long Beach – SharkSat-1 seeks to monitor LED-induced blue light pollution around the globe. LED lights are popular for their efficiency, but their effects are now being studied by climate and health researchers. Data collected by SharkSat-1 will create a database for experts to create light pollution maps. California State University, Long Beach, is a minority-serving institution.
• University of Delaware – DAPPer (Delaware Atmospheric Plasma Probe Experiment) will map average changes in electron density and temperature versus latitude and time of day in the F2 layer of the ionosphere. Another goal is to determine the preferred size for a Langmuir probe to measure ionospheric electrons from CubeSat. This is Delaware’s first CubeSat selection for CSLI and aims to provide students with hands-on learning experiences in flight systems.
• Saint Louis University – DARLA-02 (Demonstration of Artificial Reasoning, Learning and Analysis) will demonstrate autonomous response to events in the 3U spacecraft and create a dynamic map of the radio frequency background noise in the highest frequency band of interest. DARLA-02 follows DARLA, which is scheduled to launch with CSLI in 2024. This follow-up aims to double the amount of time the spacecraft can be in science mode on orbit.
• California State Polytechnic University, Pomona – The Five Pleiades mission will be the first to use an optimized CubeSat architecture to provide effective and sustainable educational opportunities for future generations of the space industry. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, will partner with five other universities and offer a pathway that allows students to design, test, launch and operate a low-cost 1U educational CubeSat within one academic year. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, is a minority-serving institution.
• University of Chicago – PULSE-A (polarization-modulated laser satellite experiment) will demonstrate a way to increase the speed of communication between space and the ground. PULSE-A also aims to make space-to-ground operations more difficult to intercept and intercept through an on-orbit technology demonstration. PULSE-A will use 10 Mbps polarization keyed laser communication instead of radio frequency for a space call to Earth. Optical communication in free space improves the power, bandwidth and effective data transfer rates over radio frequency.
• Utah State University – GASRATS (Get Away Special Radio and Antenna Transparency Satellite) will demonstrate a new transparent patch antenna integrated on top of a solar panel. Dual-purpose use of a satellite’s outer surface and the combination of power generation with communications capabilities addresses common space mission constraints of power and mass limitations. Utah State University previously participated in CSLI, deploying GASPACS (Get Away Special Passive Attitude Control Satellite) in early 2022 to test inflatable structures in space.
• NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – GPDM (Green Propulsion Dual Mode) will test chemical and electrospray capability of the low-toxic or “green” rocket propellant known as Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic (ASCENT) during a spaceflight demonstration. The project is a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a chemical propulsion subsystem that will include a 3D printed tank, manifold and propellant management device.

Credit: NASA

NASA has selected CubeSat missions from 45 countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and launched about 160 CubeSats into space in the ELaNa (Educational Nanosatellite Launch) manifest.

The CubeSat launch initiative is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program located at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.