PyCubed-Mini: An Open-Source, Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Satellite Research Platform

Neil Khera, Carnegie Mellon University
Aleksei Seletskiy, Carnegie Mellon University
Paulo Fisch, Carnegie Mellon University
Jacob Willis, Carnegie Mellon University
Zac Manchester, Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

Being secondary payloads on most launches, small satellite missions are constrained by the primary payload's development timeline and must often compress their testing programs to meet inflexible launch dates. Academic satellite programs face additional challenges due to students' inexperience in developing robust space systems. As a result, academic CubeSat programs have historically experienced high failure rates, exceeding 55%.

To address these challenges, we have developed the PyCubed-Mini PocketQube satellite research platform. PyCubed-Mini has been carefully designed, thoroughly tested, and builds upon a legacy of space-heritage hardware and software.

This paper has been withdrawn.
 
Aug 10th, 9:45 AM

PyCubed-Mini: An Open-Source, Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Satellite Research Platform

Utah State University, Logan, UT

Being secondary payloads on most launches, small satellite missions are constrained by the primary payload's development timeline and must often compress their testing programs to meet inflexible launch dates. Academic satellite programs face additional challenges due to students' inexperience in developing robust space systems. As a result, academic CubeSat programs have historically experienced high failure rates, exceeding 55%.

To address these challenges, we have developed the PyCubed-Mini PocketQube satellite research platform. PyCubed-Mini has been carefully designed, thoroughly tested, and builds upon a legacy of space-heritage hardware and software.