Session
Technical Session II: Systems, Buses
Abstract
The Naval Academy is pursuing a small satellite project to give midshipmen hardware and ground control experience. The concept is for a lightweight, gravity-gradient stabilized satellite to be deployed from a Get Away Special cannister; the payload would be two small, low-resolution imagers (one visible and one infrared). The 40 foot diameter ground station antenna being installed at the Naval Academy can receive a power of 10 milliwatts from a satellite that uses an omnidirectional antenna and is in a typical Space Shuttle orbit. Approximately 5 to 7 watts of power is constantly available to the payload of up to 10.4 Ib (4.7 kg). Thermal control is largely passive, but some heating will be required during the longest eclipses. Once in orbit, the spacecraft would be used in astronautics courses for such assignments as orbit determination, decoding telemetry, and processing images.
Design of a Small Satellite for Use in Astronautics Education
The Naval Academy is pursuing a small satellite project to give midshipmen hardware and ground control experience. The concept is for a lightweight, gravity-gradient stabilized satellite to be deployed from a Get Away Special cannister; the payload would be two small, low-resolution imagers (one visible and one infrared). The 40 foot diameter ground station antenna being installed at the Naval Academy can receive a power of 10 milliwatts from a satellite that uses an omnidirectional antenna and is in a typical Space Shuttle orbit. Approximately 5 to 7 watts of power is constantly available to the payload of up to 10.4 Ib (4.7 kg). Thermal control is largely passive, but some heating will be required during the longest eclipses. Once in orbit, the spacecraft would be used in astronautics courses for such assignments as orbit determination, decoding telemetry, and processing images.
