CubeSat
Cubesat is project in which NASA and other companies take amateur satelites with maximum 100x100x100mm of size and 1kg of weight to the space (for a fee) and release them on orbit.
We were offered the chance to pick up czcube construction after the original team. This makes it possible to reuse a lot of design and actually built parts (also, e.g. a very solid ground radio station has been built for communication) and get some valuable advice. Even if this project does not pick up enough momentum among brmlabbers, brmlab can still serve as a hub for czcube hackers country-wide.
Status
We are currently negotiating with the original czCube developers, trying to assess the current status and whether we will gather enough people to be able to meaningfully bring this forward.
czCube has a lot of plans and documentation for a variety of modules. However, there are two problems: (i) it is too ambitious, only about 20%-40% of things are finished after few years of hacking by several people (ii) it is outdated by several years and many preceding cubesat missions we could learn from. We need to update the original plans accordingly.
Main status dashboard:
See below for initial status of various modules.
Purpose
czCube's initial goal is to serve as a modular platform easily adaptable for future missions that can just include their own modules. But what cool things should we strive for?
“Extreme webcam” (“live” Earth sattelite images) (
pasky interested iff we have very fast radio)
HAM transreciever (large interest among radioamateurs, but XXX: is it technically feasible?)
FPGA reliability testing (XXX: any prior art?)
Independent sattelite mesh network (XXX: is it technically possible? see also Radio (fast))
LRU data “dead drop” using SLC SSD (XXX: is it technically possible? see also Radio (fast))
Roentgen telescope (XXX: would require 3U cubesat format)
Modules
This page, when using “we have” etc., is meant mainly to document work done by original czcube team.
brmlab contributions are only to begin.
Case
http://www.czcube.org/cs/druzice/structure.html
Metal case plus mounting facility for modules plus solar cells on walls.
Status:
Redesign idea (simpler): Boční stěny družice by šly vyrobit z
cuprextitu tak, aby z vnější strany sloužily k propojení a upevnění
solárních článků a z vnitřní strany k DPS pro elektroniku modulů,
provedených technikou povrchové montáže.
TODO: Evaluate design, evaluate prototype. Get in touch with Martin Jediný.
Interested people: tlapka,
Communication bus
Power
http://www.czcube.org/cs/druzice/power.html
Status:
Original design and partial prototype. (Not in brmlab.) Navržené schéma napájecího zdroje a pár prototypů jeho částí, celek nerealizován (vše má u sebe Míra Major)
If redesign: Zdroj možná může být co nejjednodušší (protože od něj potřebujeme hlavně spolehlivost).
TODO: Evaluate design and prototype. Get in touch with Míra Major.
Interested people: pasky, nephirus,
Radio (basic)
Radio (fast) (evaluate feasibility)
http://www.czcube.org/cs/druzice/radio.html
One hackerspace idea for the cubesat would be gradual setup of tethered
sattelite network and/or “dead drop” LRU data storage accessible by
ground stations all over the world. However, that would mean radical
departure with the current specification and it is not clear at all
whether this is feasible with available energy.
We need *some* fast radio at least in order to be able to download
camera images from the cubesat.
Status:
TODO: Evaluate current design. Evaluate available means of communication. Are we able and willing to get this working?
Interested people: pasky, nephirus,
Radio (ground station)
Maneuvering (Orientation and Stabilization) (evaluate feasibility)
Camera (evaluate feasibility)
Tether (evaluate feasibility)
Solar sail (evaluate feasibility)
Testing facility
???
Máme hotovou rozpracovanou (nedokončenou) testovací magnetickou komoru, kterou jsme ale
oficiálně předali na UJEP (informace má David Holas)
Design Considerations
Simplicity. Original czCube development stalled mainly because too high goals, design complexity and number of modules.
Heat. Cooling is by radiation only, we must be extremely careful about producing heat.