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Space Object Tracking from CubeSats utilizing Low-Cost Software Defined Radios

2023-12 , Mealey, Alex

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Satellite Orbit Classification through Machine Learning

2023-08 , Kalidindi, Lakshmi Kundana

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Design of the Hosted Software Application for the VISORS Mission

2023-05-01 , Arunkumar, Ebenezer , Lightsey, E. Glenn

The VIrtual Super Optics Reconfigurable Swarm (VISORS) mission is a distributed telescope system consisting of two 6U CubeSats that utilize precision formation flying to detect and study the fundamental energy release regions of the solar corona. The inherent complexities and risks associated with two spacecraft operating in close proximity, as well as the unique restrictions of the spacecrafts’ design, make careful autonomous execution crucial to the success of the mission. To address these challenges, this paper outlines the development of the Hosted Software Application (HSA) flight software which manages the Guidance, Navigation, and Control algorithms, the payload finite state machine, and the spacecraft and formation level fault management system. An overview of the HSA provides context for the motivation and requirements driving the design of the flight software system. The architecture of the HSA is presented and shown to be derived from the Mission Events Timeline (MET) for each of the relevant phases of the mission. Finally, a brief outline of the implementation and testing of the software is discussed.

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A Survey and 3LE Generation Model of Megaconstellations in the Future LEO Environment

2023-05 , Schweiger, Gerald Anton

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VISORS Mission Orbit & Dynamics Simulation Using a Realtime Dynamics Processor

2023-12-01 , Kimmel, Elizabeth

VIrtual Super-resolution Optics using Reconfigurable Swarms (VISORS) is a precision formation-flying mission which uses two 6U CubeSats with a Science Mode separation distance of 40 meters to emulate a 40-meter focal length diffractive optic telescope. Due to the novelty of the technology used to achieve the stringent relative positioning requirements, the dynamics of these orbits must be simulated to verify the concept of operations (ConOps), the commercial spacecraft bus flight software (FSW), the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) formation-keeping algorithm, and the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) performance, among others. Verifying these aspects helps ensure that issues such as reaction wheel saturation, pointing errors, or collision risks, among others, do not arise during the mission. This paper describes the work done in simulating the spacecraft dynamics during the mission’s Science Operations using COSMOS to interface with the Realtime Dynamics Processor (RDP) and spacecraft bus Engineering Design Unit (EDU) provided by Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT).

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Development of an Autonomous Distributed Fault Management Architecture for the VISORS Mission

2023-08-01 , Paletta, Antoine

CubeSat formations have been identified as a new paradigm for addressing important science questions, but are often early adopters of new technologies which carry additional risks. When these missions involve proximity operations, novel fault management architectures are needed to handle these risks. Building on established methods, this paper presents one such architecture that involves a passively safe relative orbit design, interchangeable chief-deputy roles, a formation level fault diagnosis scheme, and an autonomous multi-agent fault handling approach. This architecture focuses on detecting faults occurring on any member of a spacecraft formation in real time and performing autonomous decision making to resolve them and keep the formation safe from an inter satellite collision. The NSF-sponsored Virtual Super-resolution Optics with Reconfigurable Swarms (VISORS) mission, which consists of two 6U CubeSats flying in formation 40 meters apart as a distributed telescope to study the solar corona, is used as a case study for the application of this architecture. The underlying fault analysis, formulation of key elements of the fault detection and response strategy, and the implementation as flight software for VISORS are discussed in the paper.

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Modeling, Developing, and Optimizing Minimal Cislunar PNT Constellation

2023-05-01 , Smith, Dillon W.

Cislunar space is expected to see a large increase in number of users over the next few decades. As a result, a cislunar positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) service should be implemented in order to meet the demanding needs of users. Focus is placed on a near term version of the system that will cater to areas of interest in cislunar space, namely the lunar south pole. A standard set of metrics, including coverage and Positional Dilution of Precision (PDOP), are utilized to assess and compare various system configurations proposed in literature. Architectural changes are imposed onto literature constellations to produce novel constellations with the goal of increasing performance, which is achieved. To systematically improve constellation performance, an optimization process to determine the optimal satellite positioning along defined orbits is used to minimize PNT estimate errors. Optimized constellations are developed and compared to the originals in which it is seen that major performance increases are possible.

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Development of an Open Source Data Visualization and Automated Testing Platform for CubeSat Subsystems

2023-08 , Bustos, Alexander

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Development of an Autonomous Distributed Fault Management Architecture for the VISORS Mission

2023-05-01 , Paletta, Antoine

CubeSat formations have been identified as a new paradigm for addressing important science questions, but are often early adopters of new technologies which carry additional risks. When these missions involve proximity operations, novel fault management architectures are needed to handle these risks. Building on established methods, this paper presents one such architecture that involves a passively safe relative orbit design, interchangeable chief-deputy roles, a formation level fault diagnosis scheme, and an autonomous multi-agent fault handling approach. This architecture focuses on detecting faults occurring on any member of a spacecraft formation in real time and performing autonomous decision making to resolve them and keep the formation safe from an inter satellite collision. The NSF-sponsored Virtual Super-resolution Optics with Reconfigurable Swarms (VISORS) mission, which consists of two 6U CubeSats flying in formation 40 meters apart as a distributed telescope to study the solar corona, is used as a case study for the application of this architecture. The underlying fault analysis, formulation of key elements of the fault detection and response strategy, and the implementation as flight software for VISORS are discussed in the paper.

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Simulation and Analysis of Navigation Performance for Cislunar PNT Constellations

2023-05-01 , Hartigan, Mark

Cislunar space currently lacks the navigation infrastructure from which Earth-centric space missions benefit – e.g. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The Deep Space Network is often used, but in recent years has become saturated with missions and scheduling time is becoming increasingly infeasible. Governments and national agencies such as the White House and NASA have identified a need for a scalable and interoperable positioning, navigation, timing, and communications (PNTC) service in cislunar space to support growing scientific interest and plans for a sustained human presence on the surface. This paper explores potential navigation methodologies and analytically determines achievable accuracy for such a system; navigation simulations are also conducted for example users on the lunar south pole – such as a ground station and lunar rover – to compare several different low-infrastructure constellation designs. Sufficient coverage of the south pole to yield navigation performance in the tens of meters is achieved for these users with as little as a four-satellite constellation

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