Session
Technical Session V: Lessons Learned - In Success and Failure
Abstract
On January 27, 2000 (UTC) ASUSat1 was launched into space onboard Orbital Sciences’ Minotaur rocket. The launch was the culmination of six years of effort by over 400 students. ASUSat1 is an innovative nanosatellite bringing new concepts for low-power, low-mass, highly constrained designs. Its primary mission was earth imaging, with several secondary missions including orbit determination, amateur-radio communications, passive stabilization techniques, attitude detection, and composite-material research. Following the successful launch and deployment of ASUSat1, the satellite operated for 14 hours. In spite of this, the team collected useful data from the satellite, and verified many of the design concepts incorporated into the satellite. Following the on-orbit failure of ASUSat1, the team conducted an investigation to try and single out the problem. Even though no specific problem was identified, the team has noted several design and system-level issues to be taken as lessons learned from this project to future ASUSat satellite projects.
ASUSat1: Low-Cost, Student-Designed Nanosatellite
On January 27, 2000 (UTC) ASUSat1 was launched into space onboard Orbital Sciences’ Minotaur rocket. The launch was the culmination of six years of effort by over 400 students. ASUSat1 is an innovative nanosatellite bringing new concepts for low-power, low-mass, highly constrained designs. Its primary mission was earth imaging, with several secondary missions including orbit determination, amateur-radio communications, passive stabilization techniques, attitude detection, and composite-material research. Following the successful launch and deployment of ASUSat1, the satellite operated for 14 hours. In spite of this, the team collected useful data from the satellite, and verified many of the design concepts incorporated into the satellite. Following the on-orbit failure of ASUSat1, the team conducted an investigation to try and single out the problem. Even though no specific problem was identified, the team has noted several design and system-level issues to be taken as lessons learned from this project to future ASUSat satellite projects.
