Session
Technical Session III: Military Uses Of Small Satellites In Distributed Systems
Abstract
An initiative has been undertaken at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (CU-Colorado Springs) involving the design,development, launch, and operation of two nanosatellites. Objectives of the project, NavGold, include establishment of an on-orbit test bed for research, testing, and validation of critical nanosat technologies enabling formation flying and constellations. Additional educational objectives provide team members leadership opportunities in a multidisciplinary team with real hardware, budget, and scheduling challenges. Two identical nanosats will be built and flown. The spacecraft design includes a maneuvering propulsion system and three-axis active attitude determination and control. Absolute and precision relative navigation will be accomplished using augmented Global Positioning System information. Maximum use of commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software will be employed, to minimize cost and schedule risk. The aggressive schedule calls for spacecraft delivery in early 2001. The current baseline orbit assumes a shuttle launch, implying a 50+ degree inclined low earth orbit. Spacecraft power and communication designs draw heavily from CU-Colorado Springs experience on the Falcon Gold spacecraft launched in October, 1997, a joint project with the U. S. Air Force Academy. Additionally, the CU-Colorado Springs ground station, communications system, part of the power subfunction, the flight computer, and the in-house developed tri-axial magnetometer and digital sun sensor have been successfully tested on high-altitude balloon flights.
NavGold - An On-Orbit Test Bed for Experiments in Formation Flight
An initiative has been undertaken at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (CU-Colorado Springs) involving the design,development, launch, and operation of two nanosatellites. Objectives of the project, NavGold, include establishment of an on-orbit test bed for research, testing, and validation of critical nanosat technologies enabling formation flying and constellations. Additional educational objectives provide team members leadership opportunities in a multidisciplinary team with real hardware, budget, and scheduling challenges. Two identical nanosats will be built and flown. The spacecraft design includes a maneuvering propulsion system and three-axis active attitude determination and control. Absolute and precision relative navigation will be accomplished using augmented Global Positioning System information. Maximum use of commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software will be employed, to minimize cost and schedule risk. The aggressive schedule calls for spacecraft delivery in early 2001. The current baseline orbit assumes a shuttle launch, implying a 50+ degree inclined low earth orbit. Spacecraft power and communication designs draw heavily from CU-Colorado Springs experience on the Falcon Gold spacecraft launched in October, 1997, a joint project with the U. S. Air Force Academy. Additionally, the CU-Colorado Springs ground station, communications system, part of the power subfunction, the flight computer, and the in-house developed tri-axial magnetometer and digital sun sensor have been successfully tested on high-altitude balloon flights.
