Pre-flight qualification test procedure for nanosatellites using sounding rockets

Pre-flight qualification test procedure for nanosatellites using sounding rockets

This work presents an innovative procedure to test nanosatellites subsystems on board sounding rockets. The procedure allows the subsystems to save their telemetry data during the whole rocket flight phases (including at the rocket lift-off). The subsystems of the FloripaSat (1U CubeSat) engineering...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta astronautica Vol. 159; pp. 564 - 577
Main Authors: Slongo, Leonardo Kessler, Reis, João Gabriel, Gaiki, Daniel, Seger, Pedro Von Hohendorff, Martínez, Sara Vega, Eiterer, Bruno Vale Barbosa, Pereira, Tulio Gomes, Baldini Neto, Mario, Frata, Matheus dos Santos, Hamisch, Henrique Daniel, Mattos, André Martins Pio de, Mera, Juan Pablo Florez, Paiva, Kleber Vieira de, Mantelli, Marcia Barbosa Henriques, Dilillo, Luigi, Bezerra, Eduardo Augusto
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2019
Elsevier BV
Elsevier
Subjects:
Batteries
Battery chargers
Computer Science
Cubesat
Design modifications
Design validation
Electric power
Electronics
Embedded Systems
Engineering Sciences
Ground stations
Inertial platforms
Micro and nanotechnologies
Microelectronics
Model testing
Nanosatellite
Nanosatellites
Rocket flight
Sounding rocket
Sounding rockets
Specifications
Subsystems
Telemetry
Temperature measurement
Test procedure
Test procedure
Sounding rocket
Design validation
Nanosatellite
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Summary:This work presents an innovative procedure to test nanosatellites subsystems on board sounding rockets. The procedure allows the subsystems to save their telemetry data during the whole rocket flight phases (including at the rocket lift-off). The subsystems of the FloripaSat (1U CubeSat) engineering model have been tested on board a VSB-30 rocket in order to validate their design and integration process. A dedicated embedded system has been proposed to operate as an electronic interface between the nanosatellite subsystems and the rocket electronics. Also, a system to process telemetry data was implemented on the ground station. The test procedure validates data frame definition, communication protocol specification, hardware integration specification, among other functionalities. Three FloripaSat subsystems have been tested: Electrical Power Subsystem (EPS); Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C); and On Board Data Handling (OBDH). Several nanosatellites’ functions have been evaluated, including: battery monitoring; inertial measurement unit; temperature measurements; radio transceiver; and beacon. The flight results were considerably different from the results obtained at the laboratory. This has allowed important modifications to be made on the design of the CubeSat flight model as the revision on the radio circuit on TT&C and the implementation of an external battery charger circuit for the EPS. •A detailed description of a qualification test procedure for nanosatellites.•Embedded system to interface the nanosatellite subsystems and the rocket electronics.•Design description, test and on-flight validation of a Multi-Mission Platform.•Ground station data processing software.•Nanosatellite subsystems test results from a sounding rocket flight.
ISSN:0094-5765
1879-2030
DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.01.035