Session
Session 4: Lessons Learned
Abstract
PSAT is the 6th U.S. Naval Academy student engineering Amateur Satellite project since 2001. It remains fully operational and successful for over 18 months in space since the launch in May 2015. PSAT is an example of the academy’s student satellite development projects, designed specifically for the Amateur Satellite Service for the student’s education and self-training at the undergraduate level in the radio/satellite technology. PSAT uses passive radiometric torque from a differential black/white color scheme to induce spacecraft spin on-orbit for passive thermal balancing and consistent charging (in parallel) of individual battery cells which are then used in series to provide appropriate spacecraft bus voltage. This paper summarizes the first 18 months of 58,000 telemetry and 22,000 user downlink packets collected by the worldwide network of volunteer, internet-linked ground stations that all feed the live downlink web page: http://pcsat.findu.com. This summary yields statistics on various telemetry and data types, the total number of users and their worldwide distribution, the total number of ground stations, as well as any satellite-to-satellite link data. The telemetry also reveals the success of the passive spin stabilized attitude and thermal control system including the spacecraft response to the mission loads and the space environment.
Presentation
PSAT: University Amateur Radio Satellite Success Story - Mission Review and Lessons Learned from 18 Months on Orbit
PSAT is the 6th U.S. Naval Academy student engineering Amateur Satellite project since 2001. It remains fully operational and successful for over 18 months in space since the launch in May 2015. PSAT is an example of the academy’s student satellite development projects, designed specifically for the Amateur Satellite Service for the student’s education and self-training at the undergraduate level in the radio/satellite technology. PSAT uses passive radiometric torque from a differential black/white color scheme to induce spacecraft spin on-orbit for passive thermal balancing and consistent charging (in parallel) of individual battery cells which are then used in series to provide appropriate spacecraft bus voltage. This paper summarizes the first 18 months of 58,000 telemetry and 22,000 user downlink packets collected by the worldwide network of volunteer, internet-linked ground stations that all feed the live downlink web page: http://pcsat.findu.com. This summary yields statistics on various telemetry and data types, the total number of users and their worldwide distribution, the total number of ground stations, as well as any satellite-to-satellite link data. The telemetry also reveals the success of the passive spin stabilized attitude and thermal control system including the spacecraft response to the mission loads and the space environment.
