Validation of a CubeSat Stellar Gyroscope System Coll University of Kentucky/NASA Johnson and Kennedy Space Center/Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology Mission Directorates, International Space Station
Students and Faculty at the University of Kentucky Space Systems Lab have developed a system called a stellar gyroscope that can determine the orientation of a small satellite in space using consecutive pictures of star fields to determine how the satellite is moving through space. Normally this implies heavy power and computational requirements; however, by identifying similar stars between image frames and conducting all processing onboard the satellite, this approach dramatically increases the utility of small satellite missions. The advantage of this approach is the potential for lower-cost attitude determination and control systems for all small satellites with limited computing and power resources. A team of students and faculty have prepared the CubeSat, called SGSat/KySat3, for launch into low-Earth orbit from the International Space Station. This project gives researchers in Kentucky access to space to test their concepts and hardware, while also providing Kentucky students firsthand experience with spacecraft testing and operations.
Dr. James E. Lumpp, Jr., Science PI, Professor, University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky students Timothy Lim and Zachary Porter perform subsystem upgrade testing for a CubeSat that will be launched into orbit from the International Space Station to test an experimental stellar gyroscope method for small spacecraft attitude determination developed by the UK Space Systems Lab.
Willie Williams, NASA Technical Monitor, Johnson Space Center
Mission updates and status will be displayed along with results of the research at: http://ssl.engineering.uky.edu/sg-satkysat-3/
www.nasa.gov/epscor/stimuli
NASA EPSCoR Stimuli 2016-17
|
59