Introduction to CubeSats

Syllabus

1. Small Satellites and the Rise of a Standard (6 hours)
   1. Faster, better, cheaper
   2. 1990s satellite design and development
   3. Satellite in a Can: CanSat
   4. The CubeSat standard
   5. Amateur radio community
   6. Early years of CubeSat
   7. Current state of the standard
   8. CubeSat design essentials
   9. Satellite and space related developments in Nepal
   10. Current Nepali satellite/CubeSat projects
2. CubeSat Design Process Overview (3 hours)
   1. From paper to space
   2. Lean satellite design philosophy
   3. Reverse satellite timeline philosophy
   4. CubeSat design reviews
   5. System block diagrams
   6. CubeSat safety review
   7. Frequency coordination with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
   8. Satellite launch agreements
   9. Budgets, payments and financial considerations
   10. Procurement and logistics
   11. Space law and deorbit requirement considerations
3. CubeSat Mission Design (9 hours)
   1. Mission statement and objectives
   2. Mission requirements
   3. Requirement allocation sheet (RAS)
   4. Mission success criteria
   5. CubeSat mission case studies
   6. State of art
   7. CubeSat systems-level state-of-art
   8. Constellation designs
   9. Formation flying
   10. Deep space missions
   11. Fly-by missions
   12. Deorbit missions
4. CubeSat Hardware (12 hours)
   1. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies
   2. The printed circuit board
   3. CubeSat bus standards
   4. On-board computer (OBC)
   5. Electrical power system (EPS)
   6. Solar panel designs (SP)
   7. Communication system (COM)
   8. CubeSat structure design (STR)
   9. CubeSat attitude determination and control system (ADCS)
   10. Thermal design considerations
   11. Deployables
   12. Design models and system redundancies
   13. Interface control document (ICD) and harnessing
   14. Manufacturing techniques and design for manufacturing (DFM)
   15. CubeSat integration facilities
5. CubeSat Software (6 hours)
   1. Review of C programming language
   2. Integrated development environments (IDE)
   3. Free and open-source software (FOSW)
   4. Flight software (FSW)
   5. Fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR)
   6. CubeSat operating system (OS)
   7. CubeSat operational algorithms
   8. CubeSat simulations
6. CubeSat Testing (6 hours)
   1. Triple T standard: test, test, test
   2. Space environment overview
   3. Popular CubeSat orbits
   4. The ISO 19683:2017 satellite testing standards
   5. Component screening
   6. Thermal vacuum testing (TVT) and thermal baking (TB)
   7. Vibration testing (VT)
   8. Radiation testing (RT)
   9. Anechoic chamber testing (ACT)
   10. Long duration tests (LDT) and long range tests (LRT)
   11. Qualification, proto-flight and acceptance testing
   12. Acoustics, spacecraft charging and other tests
   13. Testing platforms (flat-sats, electrical ground support equipment)
7. Launch, Ground Segment and Operations (6 hours)
   1. CubeSat common launchers
   2. Communication frequencies, modulations
   3. IARU, API and ITU coordination
   4. Ground stations
   5. Antenna designs and considerations
   6. Ground sensor terminals
   7. Wireless communications link budget
   8. CubeSat failures

Evaluation

1. Chapter 1 (6 hours): 10 marks
2. Chapter 2 (3 hours): 5 marks
3. Chapter 3 (9 hours): 10 marks
4. Chapter 4 (12 hours): 15 marks
5. Chapter 5 (6 hours): 10 marks
6. Chapter 6 (9 hours): 10 marks