Session
Weekend Session VII: Year in Review - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
One of the seminal problems that faces new and academic CubeSat teams is very long development cycles that often lead to project failure through some combination of funding issues, launch window misses, and loss of gained institutional knowledge. While many are familiar with the approximately 40% early failure rate of launched CubeSats, this metric only tracks missions that actually made it to dispenser integration. In our tracking of approximately 35 university teams since 2019, we have found that only 4 have successfully launched in that time, implying that 88% of aspiring CubeSat programs fail before they even make it to launch. We believe that this is an unacceptably high rate of failure for this community and propose that a major shift in how CubeSat engineering is conducted may significantly reduce this gap between the number of institutions who desire to participate in the space industry and the number that are actually able to.
We seek to present lessons learned from the development of the PROVES Kit at Bronco Space lab, Cal Poly Pomona, which launched three unique 1U CubeSats on three back-to-back SpaceX Transporter flights between January and June 2023. Notably, the total cost for these satellites (including launch) was only $106k, with the fastest development cycle completed in under a week.
A core finding of our retrospective analysis of this run of satellites is what we refer to as the “Any% Method.” We advocate for a more dynamic approach to lean space mission engineering, focusing on just achieving the specific end goal of the mission even at the expense of only partially completing other objectives. This “Any%” completion methodology can be combined with multiple design, build, test cycles. This repetition, even if only one success is required, provides invaluable experience, refining each subsequent attempt. We believe this strategy not only accelerates pace towards meeting project objectives but also enhances the educational and developmental aspects of the program, potentially increasing the success rate of university-led CubeSat projects.
The Any% Method – Improving Space Access Through Improved Design, Build, and Test Methodologies
Utah State University, Logan, UT
One of the seminal problems that faces new and academic CubeSat teams is very long development cycles that often lead to project failure through some combination of funding issues, launch window misses, and loss of gained institutional knowledge. While many are familiar with the approximately 40% early failure rate of launched CubeSats, this metric only tracks missions that actually made it to dispenser integration. In our tracking of approximately 35 university teams since 2019, we have found that only 4 have successfully launched in that time, implying that 88% of aspiring CubeSat programs fail before they even make it to launch. We believe that this is an unacceptably high rate of failure for this community and propose that a major shift in how CubeSat engineering is conducted may significantly reduce this gap between the number of institutions who desire to participate in the space industry and the number that are actually able to.
We seek to present lessons learned from the development of the PROVES Kit at Bronco Space lab, Cal Poly Pomona, which launched three unique 1U CubeSats on three back-to-back SpaceX Transporter flights between January and June 2023. Notably, the total cost for these satellites (including launch) was only $106k, with the fastest development cycle completed in under a week.
A core finding of our retrospective analysis of this run of satellites is what we refer to as the “Any% Method.” We advocate for a more dynamic approach to lean space mission engineering, focusing on just achieving the specific end goal of the mission even at the expense of only partially completing other objectives. This “Any%” completion methodology can be combined with multiple design, build, test cycles. This repetition, even if only one success is required, provides invaluable experience, refining each subsequent attempt. We believe this strategy not only accelerates pace towards meeting project objectives but also enhances the educational and developmental aspects of the program, potentially increasing the success rate of university-led CubeSat projects.
