Developments this week have mainly involved the project team finishing their technical reports. In addition each team member is compiling their individual contribution for the final report which will be integrated together from 1st May. 

The issues with the FM 430 discussed previously have been resolved and plans to use it in development remain unchanged. 

Finally Ben has confirmed that the structural design is nearing completion which represents a major milestone in the programme evolution. 

20 April

The team is now focussing on compiling the final report for the project. Other work continues. There are issues with the integration of the FM430 into the satellite structure and recent developments have rendered it (FM 430) obsolete. Discussions on the subject will be held in today's group meeting

The team continues to work on assigned tasks, with some changes. Benjamin Hall in addition to making a structural prototype, is also working on a Launch and Vibrational Analysis of the satellite through finite element analysis. Alex Wigg is incorporating Magnetometers into his ADCS design, whereas Shahzad Khan is working on the design of the Thermal Control subsystem, thus completing the KUbesat generic design.

Things are finally taking shape. The group meeting progressed smoothly in which the following responsibilities were distributed.

Jack had completed his report on CDHS and is in the process of finishing one on Programme Management. Alex, having completed reports on Payload sepcification and components will now work on integration of FM430 with the payload subsystem. Shahzad will research on magnetometers and carry out launch and vibrational analysis of the structure once Ben is done with the drawings of the structure prototype. Chris is in the process of finishing up his link budgets for the Comms subsystem whilst Mohsin came up with valuable data on the Power subsystem.

15th March

It has been concluded that GumStix is likely to be unsuitable for command and data handling on board. Although very cheap, GumStix components are not designed to minimise power comsumption and this may prove their downfall. There is also limited support available and other CubeSat developers have actively turned down GumStix as a C&DH solution. The alternative will likely be to use the FM430 Flight Module, for which there is plentiful technical support available and which consumes very little power, although is more expensive.

Final payload components have been chosen and the reccommendation has been made to set up a payload testing station at Roehampton Vale Campus.

Work has commenced on the deailed design of ADCS components and link budget estimations are complete, with component selection and design to begin in due course.

 

The KUbeSat team have been working through their designated projects this week, with some good head way being made. 

The communications system is near completion with only a few minor details which need to refined before an accurate link budget can be distributed to the team. 

The Ground station design is currently in the research stages and the reports stating the teams recommendations will be ready shortly. 

The Command and Data Handling is coming along well with new developments being made continuously, the technical report will be ready within the upcoming weeks. 

The power system has been researched thoroughly with the initial stage component recommendation due shortly. 

The payload specification and component selection near near completion and will be distributed within the next business week. 

The KUbeSat's structural research is underway with analysis into the vibrational parameters, of which, the satellite is expected to withstand. Testing equipment has also been investigated for the structural testing.

With only 9 weeks remaining of this educational year each of the sub-projects are expected to be finished within the next few weeks ready for the years final review and report. 

 

1st March 2009

A number of sources for potential funding were presented at the previous group meeting. These are extremely promising leads and the group hopes to capitalise on the opportunity. A number of KUbeSat Programme related items have been added to the 'wish list' for capital expediture within the faculty, including a clean room and ground station facilities.

It has also been suggested that a number of component testing stations be set up at Roehampton Vale campus, including:

• A payload testing station allowing experimentation with different camera settings and lens configurations.
  
• A command and data handling station which allows set up and programming of a Gumstix/Linux based motherboard

Preliminary quotes have been supplied for the above items, and detailed recommendations shall be made in the technical reports to be issued soon.

Work is soon to commence on the production of a prototype structure in the laboratories. 

15th Group Meeting

Work continues on the KubeSat programme at regular pace. Chris Blower developed some STK (Satellite Tool Kit) plots on the size and orientation of potential orbits wherein he stated that an orbit with an altitude of 900 km with an inclination of 72 degrees will give the maximum coverage of 52000 seconds a week which roughly translates into 8.65% of the orbital period.

Alex reported with some useful data on image sensors as received from Aptina stating parameters of one such model. It was also benefitting to get an idea of the cost and their operational temperature range.

Jack will write a technical report on the software code wherein a feasibility study will be conducted to assess the capabilites of National Instruments' equipment and establish whether it is possible to develop one and export it to a General data target board. Meanwhile work continues as normal for Shahzad, Mohsin and Ben.

Work has continued this week in all areas. Technical reports into thermal control and communications are nearly finished; allowing for a detailed design analysis and trade-off study to be completed in support of the generic KUbeSat design.

Work continues with payload component selection with developments expected next week as suppliers get back to the project team with costing estimates.

The KUbeSat programme synopsis is close to completion, with issue 2 currently moving through the formal review process. It is anticipated that this will be finished next week, when a link to the page will be made available from this site. Watch this space!

In other news, work continues into ground station development with site surveys hampered by the recent inclement weather. This will be completed soon and represents a major milestone in the KUbeSat project evolution. Also this week, efforts have been to re-new the amateur radio licence held by Dr. Chris Welch, so that he can operate the ground station.

Finally, research into equipping Kingston University with a cleanroom facility has been completed, with initial indications suggesting that a three man room could be installed relatively cheaply. This is an important finding as a cleanroom not only supports the development of KUbeSat, but also helps address some of the project team's objectives.

The team have been active over the last week, with developments being made in all sections.

The Synopsis is near completion and is expected to be ready for distribution as the the upcoming week.

The technical research and reports are coming along well with developments being made in the power systems, and the thermal controls initial review completed by the teams next meeting. The first stage of the payload selection and review has been finalised and consequently allowing the component selection process to begin. This will be coming into further detail over the next few weeks.

For developments of the Kingston University Campus, the facilities review has now been completed with research and reviews being made into the installation of a clean room for the KUbeSat to be developed within.

Overall the project is making good progress and in future weeks will have a good foundation for the KUbeSat programme to be set upon.

28th January 2009: Update

The group is now moving into the second semester, meaning that the academic year is more than half way through. As a result of new timetables, the group design meetings are to be rescheduled for Mondays.

Chris Welch, project supervisor, shall hopefully be attending a CubeSat Development Workshop in California at the end of April. This would permit sharing of ideas and discussions with many other CubeSat developers around the world. Such an opportunity would definitely be of benefit for the KUbeSat groups in academic years to come.

Technical reports for thermal control, power systems and payload are nearing completion, allowing design decisions and provisional selection of components to be made. Further structural analysis is to be carried out and the feasibility of using a vibration table at Penrhyn Road campus is to be investigated.

A KUbeSat Programme synopsis has been created, which is simply a project summary document to be supplied to interested parties and students. This serves the purpose of generating interest in the project while providing key information and group contact details for those people who wish to learn more or somehow become involved in the programme themselves.

  

Considerable progress has been made with regard to allocation of work for KUbeSat. I have taken over structures, wherein further research into the structural design of a CubeSat will be undertaken. In this regard, vibrational and other environmental requirements will be taken account of. This will then be supplemented with a Stress/Strain Analysis of the basic KUbeSat structure. Jack has offered to write two technical reports; one on Clean Room and the other on gauging the advantages/disadvantages and suitability of prototyping software into a smaller architecture since purchasing one would be too expensive. Alex is to finish up his TR on Payload subsystem by this week whih will be reviewed by the group. Chris has offered to look into the modalities of installing an antenna mast at Roevale. All in all we're in good shape for next meeting.

The project team has recently returned from the christmas holidays and work is now resumed, but before the holidays, the team submitted their required technical reports on Facilities, Communications, Satellite Deployment, ADCS, Structure and Ground Station. Jack Burrell has made a rough solidworks model of a double monoblock structure for the KUbesat to give the team a greater familiarity of the shape than what a simple 2-D drawing would provide. It has been established that the manufacturing facilities available at Roehampton Vale Campus are adequate for fabrication of the satellite structure. Formal contact has been established with AMSAT-UK for ground station related information. The team is also evaluating the feasibility of installing a communications tower on university grounds. Such an undertaking will have to involve approval from the university adminsitration and the local Council as well as substantial funds.