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November 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
Thinking inside the box
Cube sats revolutionize space science
Joseph Palmer, left, and Michael Caffrey of Space Data Systems discuss a cube sat constellation. Photos by Richard Robinson
When computers were first developed, they took up entire rooms, cost millions, and offered limited access. Sixty years later, ultraportable notebook computers are reasonably priced and slip neatly into a backpack.
Satellites are undergoing a similar transformation. Infinitely smaller, the newest space orbiters, called cube sats, measure just 10 x 10 x 10 centimeters—about 5 inches per side—and weigh about 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds.
Cube sats are tiny powerhouses crammed with off-the-shelf electronic components. Although they won't put traditional satellites with their larger capabilities out of business anytime soon, and, in fact, rely on larger orbiters to boost them into space, cube sats are big enough to deploy small-scale science missions into space faster and more cheaply than anyone ever imagined.
"Cube sats are the laptops of satellites."
"Cube sats are the laptops of satellites," said Michael Caffrey of Space Data Systems (ISR-3), whose group, together with two students from Brigham Young University, is preparing the Laboratory's first cube sat for launch in 2009.
The collaboration between the Laboratory and the academic world is a win-win situation for everyone, added Dan Holden of Nuclear Nonproliferation. "The students gain valuable experience designing payloads, setting up ground stations, launching and 'talking' to the satellite, and collecting data," he said. "And the Lab helps bright young people, who may later come to work here, to do innovative space science." Collaborations with the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, and the University of Michigan are planned, he said.
Tiny satellites were first conceptualized about five years ago by researchers at California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University, who realized how much space—about 30,000 kilograms of launch capacity—was going unused on U.S. satellites and military rockets every year, Caffrey said. Thrilled by the prospect of using that space to beam up hundreds of little science projects, universities and private companies began custom-building tiny satellites by filling standardized cube-shaped frames with electronic components from digital cameras, microprocessors, cell phones, and Global Positioning System (GPS) units. "The students really got excited, wanted to throw a ground station on the roof of every university," Holden said.
A cube sat is being prepared for launch.
Students at ISR-3 are testing components for compatibility and capability, Caffrey said. And findings from such tests are often shared. "This is a very open architecture," Holden said, noting that researchers are blogging about their experiences, which improves product quality and makes prices more competitive. "Outfitting traditional satellites with a scientific payload often costs billions of dollars," he said. "Now we can have something up in space and 'talk' to it for around $100,000."
Cube sats are revolutionizing accepted paradigms in space science, Holden said. "Traditionally, scientists began by designing the payload and then worrying about how to get it into space," he said. "Often, mission problems got solved the lazy way—with more power." Cube sats' space constraints challenge researchers to think "inside the box," he said.
Launch times are getting faster, too. "Before, getting a payload on a rocket would take years, making it a nonstarter for students whose time is limited," he said. "But now, you can jump on a rocket in a matter of months."
While individual cube sats have lower capabilities than larger orbiters, as wide-array constellations they can collect and combine data to better understand large-scale phenomena like space weather, Holden said. And if one satellite does not function, the reliability of the entire system is not compromised, he noted.
"Cube sats are useful for national security because they're more difficult for the enemy to detect and destroy," said Joseph Palmer, a BYU doctoral candidate in ISR-3. "They're also great for prototyping new systems, and there's less financial risk for backers, so more innovations get funded."
While cube sats are new, scientists have been doing space satellite research for decades, Palmer said. "There's world-class expertise at the Lab. And there's a lot of support for students—you don't often see that in the industry," he said.
—Tatjana K. Rosev
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