Session
Pre-Conference Workshop Session 3: Year in Review - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The Joint Global Multi-National Birds or BIRDS program, is a multinational small satellite project led by Kyushu Institute of Technology (Japan). The BIRDS program gives to non-space faring nations the opportunity to design, integrate, build, test, launch, and operate their country’s first satellite. This paper focuses on BIRDS-4, a constellation of three 1U CubeSats belonging to Paraguay (GuaraniSat-1: Paraguay’s first satellite), Philippines (Maya-2), and Japan (Tsuru). BIRDS-4 members are graduate students enrolled in Space Engineering International Course (SEIC) at Kyushu Institute of Technology. This constellation will execute nine missions such as Earth Imaging, Total Ionization Dose measurements, evaluation of Perovskite solar cell performance in space, and the use of “Satellite Structure as Antenna” for CW transmission. More importantly, the satellite will conduct a Store-and-Forward mission to test the technical viability of the chosen hardware, such that if proven successful, will be used for future satellite missions to gather data in remote areas. The satellites were launched on February 22, 2021 and deployed from the International Space Station on March 14, 2021.This paper describes the background, missions, stakeholders, lessons learned, and initial operational results after the deployment from ISS. Finally, this paper shall discuss the significance of this satellite for Paraguay, which has been a non-space-faring nation up until now.
An Overview of the BIRDS-4 Satellite Project and the First Satellite of Paraguay
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The Joint Global Multi-National Birds or BIRDS program, is a multinational small satellite project led by Kyushu Institute of Technology (Japan). The BIRDS program gives to non-space faring nations the opportunity to design, integrate, build, test, launch, and operate their country’s first satellite. This paper focuses on BIRDS-4, a constellation of three 1U CubeSats belonging to Paraguay (GuaraniSat-1: Paraguay’s first satellite), Philippines (Maya-2), and Japan (Tsuru). BIRDS-4 members are graduate students enrolled in Space Engineering International Course (SEIC) at Kyushu Institute of Technology. This constellation will execute nine missions such as Earth Imaging, Total Ionization Dose measurements, evaluation of Perovskite solar cell performance in space, and the use of “Satellite Structure as Antenna” for CW transmission. More importantly, the satellite will conduct a Store-and-Forward mission to test the technical viability of the chosen hardware, such that if proven successful, will be used for future satellite missions to gather data in remote areas. The satellites were launched on February 22, 2021 and deployed from the International Space Station on March 14, 2021.This paper describes the background, missions, stakeholders, lessons learned, and initial operational results after the deployment from ISS. Finally, this paper shall discuss the significance of this satellite for Paraguay, which has been a non-space-faring nation up until now.
