Spectral Ocean Color (SPOC): Lessons Learned from the University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory's First Satellite

Spectral Ocean Color (SPOC): Lessons Learned from the University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory's First Satellite

Utah State University, Logan, UT

In October 2020, the University of Georgia Small Satellite Research Laboratory launched its first CubeSat, a 3U Earth-observation mission designed to collect multispectral data from Georgia’s coastal environments for UGA’s Center for Geospatial Research to make recommendations on environmental conservation, care, and use. SPOC successfully detumbled, but after approximately a month in orbit, a coronal mass ejection (we speculate) caused us to lose contact. Despite our disappointment at the loss of SPOC, we are leveraging the lessons learned for our upcoming missions. These lessons can be categorized in four principal areas: software (flight and payload), mission operations, testing, and educational program structure. Specifically, we learned how to carefully design mission controls, how to plan and execute robust batteries of tests, and how to work together to reach our potential as young scientists and engineers. We will show how we implement these lessons on our upcoming missions – the Multi-view Onboard Computational Imager (MOCI), a 6U mission using on-orbit Structure-from-Motion to create 3D terrain maps; and the Mission for Education and Multi-media Engagement Satellite (MEMESat-1), a 2U non-profit-sponsored outreach mission designed to introduce undergraduates to building satellites and K-12 students to the world of satellite and and radio communications. We aim to share what we have learned with other young CubeSat development programs to help them pioneer new space system technology, gain scientific insight from payload data, build strong university space programs, and enrich their surrounding communities.