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Cent. Eur. J. Eng.

• 1(1) • 2011 • 9-15


DOI: 10.2478/s13531-011-0007-8

Central European Journal of Engineering

CubeSats: A Bright Future for Nanosatellites


Vision Paper

Wayne A. Shiroma∗ , Larry K. Martin, Justin M. Akagi, Jason T. Akagi, Byron L. Wolfe, Bryan A. Fewell,
Aaron T. Ohta

College of Engineering
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Received 30 December 2010; accepted 3 March 2011

Abstract: Interest in the CubeSat class of nanosatellites has surged in recent years. The reduced development time
and launch cost of these platforms, compared to conventional large satellites, have made them attractive for
applications ranging from technology demonstrations to biological experiments to space weather research. This
paper surveys recent and upcoming missions pursued by a variety of academic and government groups around
the world.
Keywords: CubeSat • Small Satellite • Nanosatellite • Picosatellite
© Versita Sp. z o.o.

1. Introduction Explorer 1 were both less than 100 kg. Since the launch of
those two satellites in the late 1950s, the average satellite
has grown considerably in size (> 2000 kg) and cost (>
Small satellites, generally regarded as having a mass of $10M per launch) [1, 2].
500 kg or less, have been around for over half a century,
but interest in this area is growing now more than ever. Since the size of a satellite corresponds directly to ex-
Numerous academic, government, and commercial entities, penses associated with physical materials and parts, la-
and even pre-college age hobbyists, are undertaking small bor for development, and launch vehicle fuel, it is natural
satellite projects around the world. This heightened in- to conclude that the principal advantages of small satel-
terest is due to the convergence of numerous factors: the lites over their big-brother counterparts are lower cost and
miniaturization of various enabling technologies, the need shorter development time. However, small satellites have
for rapid-response platforms for applications such as dis- technological and mission-related advantages in their own
aster mitigation and crisis management, the fascination of right. The shorter development cycle implies that newer
launching a personal satellite into orbit, and the changing payload and bus technologies can be inserted. In addi-
economics of space. tion, compared to a solitary, large, conventional satellite,
a network of several small satellites is potentially more
Despite the fact that small satellites are currently in
flexible, as it can be reconfigured depending on mission
vogue, it is worthwhile remembering that the very first
needs. The inherent redundancy of a small-satellite net-
satellites placed into orbit a little over 50 years ago were
work also implies lower susceptibility to single-point fail-
in fact small satellites: Russia’s Sputnik 1 and the USA’S
ure, the most extreme example being orbiting satellites
that were intentionally destroyed by missiles by China

E-mail: wayne.shiroma@hawaii.edu and the USA in 2007 and 2008, respectively [3].

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CubeSats: A Bright Future for Nanosatellites

Table 1. Classification of Small Satellites.

Class Wet Mass (kg)


Minisatellite 100 - 500
Microsatellite 10 - 100
Nanosatellite 1 - 10
Picosatellite 0.1 - 1

Despite these potential benefits of small satellites, the


major challenge is finding opportunities to launch them.
The typical scenario, especially for a student-built satel-
lite, is to wait for a piggy-back opportunity, i.e. to fly as
an auxiliary payload on a rocket accommodating a larger
satellite. This process can take months to years even af-
ter the small satellite is built (sometimes due to schedule Figure 1. CUTE-I satellite flight model [10].
delays in the primary satellite), which obviously defeats
the benefits of rapid response and newest technology in-
sertions described above. Nevertheless, there may be op- demic and government efforts in Asia, Europe, and North
portunities for dedicated small satellite launches on the America. Three of these were among the first group of
horizon. Interorbital Systems has been touting a 0.75-kg CubeSats to be launched in 2003. Three others were uni-
personal satellite kit that includes a launch aboard its versity collaborations with (or sponsorships by) national
new rocket for US $8000; if everything goes as planned, laboratories in the USA. The final one is a CubeSat that
the launch will occur this year [4]. is awaiting launch this year as part of the maiden voyage
of a European rocket.
One of the first CubeSats was the CUbical Titech
2. Survey of Past, Present, and Fu- Engineering (CUTE)-I satellite (Figure 1), developed by
ture CubeSats the Laboratory for Space Systems at the Tokyo Institute
of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and launched on June 30,
Small satellites are generally classified along the bound- 2003 [10]. CUTE-I had three fundamental objectives: 1)
aries shown in Table 1, where ”wet mass” refers to the demonstrate the ability to successfully downlink various
launched satellite with fuel. Readers interested in the satellite telemetry, including data obtained from onboard
history of small satellites in general are directed to re- sensors, 2) use the downlinked sensor data to calculate
sources elsewhere in the literature, e.g. [5]. This paper the satellite’s attitude, and 3) demonstrate the effective-
focuses specifically on the so-called CubeSat, which lies ness of a deployment mechanism. Tokyo Tech’s decision
at the boundary of the pico- and nanosatellite classes, to employ a simple mission paid off in the end as it was
since this is the type of platform that has spurred the able to meet all three objectives. Tokyo Tech built on this
most international participation in the past decade. first success to launch two additional CubeSats in 2006
The term ”CubeSat” refers to a cube-shaped satellite and 2008.
measuring 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm and having a mass no The Canadian Advanced Nanosat Experiment (CanX)
greater than 1 kg. This standard size is termed 1U, with Program [11] is a part of the University of Toronto Institute
U representing a ”unit”. CubeSats are often configured for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory. Its first
in 1.5U, 2U, and 3U sizes as well, with a corresponding CubeSat, CanX-1, was developed in 22 months and was on
length of 15, 20, and 30 cm respectively while maintaining the same launch as CUTE-I. Although contact with CanX-
a 10 cm × 10 cm face. Bob Twiggs, formerly of Stanford 1 was lost after launch, CanX-2 (Figure 2) five years later
University, California, USA (currently at Morehead State proved to be very successful with over two years of on-
University, Kentucky, USA) and Jordi Puig-Suari of Cal- orbit operations. CanX-2 served as a test bed to assess
ifornia Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, Cali- a novel propulsion system, custom radios, attitude sensors
fornia, USA conceived the CubeSat standard in 1999 [6]. and actuators, and a commercial GPS receiver. These
To date, over 40 CubeSats have been successfully tests were a precursor for the formation flight experiments
launched into orbit [7–9]. This section summarizes seven of succeeding CanX missions, and also served as the basis
CubeSat missions, representing a cross-section of aca- for a standard nanosatellite bus.

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Figure 3. Fully integrated AAU-I CubeSat flight model [13].

Figure 2. CAD Model of CanX-2 CubeSat [12].

Denmark’s Aalborg University AAU-I CubeSat (Fig-


ure 3) was on the same 2003 launch as CUTE-I and
CanX-1, and was a joint venture between the Electron-
ics Systems, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science,
and Energy Technology Institutions of the University. Al-
though the program’s primary goal has been its students’
education, one of the scientific missions of their first
CubeSat was to successfully downlink photographs of the
Earth’s surface along with celestial objects of interest,
all taken from an onboard camera [13]. Since their first
launch, Aalborg University went on to develop its sec-
ond CubeSat, AAUSAT-II, which launched on April 28,
Figure 4. GeneSat-1 payload assembly [16].
2008 [14]. They are also in the process of designing
and fabricating AAUSAT-III. The missions of AAUSAT-
II and AAUSAT-III involve radiation sensing and tracing
transponder signals from ships, respectively [15]. liquid arrays for studying multiple genetic constructs, and
It is worthwhile noting that not only were CUTE-I, miniature environmental control and power management
CanX-1, and AAU-I historic in that they were part of systems. Since data results were obtained and transmit-
the first 2003 CubeSat launch (which also included three ted back to Earth in real time, sending the specimen back
other CubeSats from Denmark, Japan, and the United for analysis was unnecessary.
States), but also that they were all built by university The low-cost, small-size, and autonomous features of
students and all served as springboards for succeeding this system proved to be a productive means of studying
space missions. the biological changes of fundamentally well-understood
In the United States, the National Aeronautics and microorganisms and mammalian cells in space. Re-
Space Administration (NASA) teamed up with various searchers have noted that the knowledge gained from
industry and university partners to develop a 3U, 5-kg GeneSat-1 would support scientists’ understanding of how
CubeSat [17]. GeneSat-1 (Figure 4) was launched on De- the human body reacts to spaceflight conditions and could
cember 16, 2006 with the objective of monitoring genetic possibly result in the development of countermeasures to
changes to E. coli bacteria in space conditions. To do this, the deleterious effects of long-duration space travel.
a fully autonomous, miniaturized spacecraft system pay- California Polytechnic State University’s sixth Cube-
load was implemented. The main components of this pay- Sat, CP6, is a 1U, 1-kg CubeSat whose primary mission
load included fluorescent imagers, microfluidic networks, is to determine the effectiveness of magnetometers and

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CubeSats: A Bright Future for Nanosatellites

Figure 6. CAD model of Goliat CubeSat [24].

ever, encompasses the study of how the plasmas, which are


in the highest region of our atmosphere, disrupt commu-
nication between ground station networks on Earth and
Figure 5. The completely integrated and assembled RAX Cube- satellites in orbit [20]. To study these disruptions, a large
Sat [20].
incoherent scatter radar in Alaska transmits powerful ra-
dio signals into the plasma-dense regions to purposely
scatter them into space. Meanwhile, the RAX satellite
magnetorquers as reliable sources of attitude determina- (Figure 5) orbiting overhead records these scattered sig-
tion and control, respectively, with two on-board cameras nals with an onboard receiver. After onboard signal pro-
serving to validate the satellite’s actual attitude [18]. The cessing, the data is sent back to a ground station for
secondary mission of CP6 is to measure the effectiveness analysis. RAX was funded by the US National Science
of electron collection from the plasma that surrounds the Foundation and was launched on November 19, 2010. Al-
Earth using hardware provided by the US Naval Research though experimental results from this mission are not yet
Laboratory. The relevance of this experiment is directly available, it was confirmed that RAX received backscatter
related to the potential impact of an emerging space- off of field-aligned irregularities [21].
craft propulsion concept, called electrodynamic propul- More than 25% of the successful CubeSat launches to
sion. This concept has the potential to maneuver space- date are of European origin, hailing from Germany, Den-
craft without the need to expend conventional fuels. In mark, Switzerland, Norway, and the Netherlands; in fact,
other words, should it be proven through experiment, it Germany and Denmark have already launched more than
would pave the way for a new era of propellant-less thrust three CubeSats each, and have more in development. Ad-
for spacecraft in orbit [19]. CP6 was launched on May 19, ditional CubeSat projects are awaiting launch or are in
2009, and the results of its experiments are still pending. various stages of development in over 20 European coun-
tries, most of them by universities [22]. One of the most
Much like CP6, the University of Michigan’s Radio exciting opportunities on the horizon is the 2011 maiden
Aurora Explorer (RAX) satellite mission utilizes these launch of the Vega rocket that will carry nine European
same plasmas surrounding the Earth. RAX’s mission, how- university CubeSats [23].

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One of these is Romania’s Goliat (Figure 6), a 1U mobilize all of the nanosatellites in a multi-node network,
CubeSat developed by students from the Universities of compared to disabling a single large satellite.
Bucharest and Politehnica of Bucharest under the admin-
The ideal small-satellite network would be au-
istration of the Romanian Space Agency and Romanian
tonomous, flexible, dynamically reconfigurable, redundant,
Institute for Space Sciences. Goliat’s objectives are to:
and readily deployable. Each nanosatellite would repre-
1) measure micrometeorite flux, 2) measure total doses of
sent a node in a network-centric sensor grid that is dy-
cosmic radiation, and 3) conduct imaging of the Earth’s
namically reconfigurable according to changing mission
surface using a digital camera [24]. The camera unit used
requirements. Research is still needed in various areas to
for the surface imaging incorporates commercial off-the-
make such a network a reality. Although attitude control
shelf sensor and processor boards, however the lens unit
systems, wireless network protocols, and the like all exist
was made in house and is capable of achieving a maximum
for large satellites, adapting them for the size of a Cube-
ground resolution of 25 m/pixel, assuming a 600-km orbit.
Sat is still a challenge.
The project’s main goal, however, is to obtain a multidis-
ciplinary, self-sustaining student team that will be able One example of a challenging enabling technology is
to design, integrate, and operate a full-fledged CubeSat the design of the CubeSat’s antenna. The challenge in de-
mission on their own; they hope to have met this goal by signing a distributed small-satellite network – especially
Goliat’s completion. a dynamically reconfigurable one – is in establishing and
maintaining a reliable crosslink with other satellites in
the network without a priori knowledge of their posi-
3. Future Small-satellite Networks tions. Omnidirectional antennas are the obvious choice for
crosslinking satellites that are subject to constant reposi-
The earliest CubeSats launched almost a decade ago were tioning, but this leaves the network susceptible to eaves-
in some sense the guinea pigs to prove that serious science dropping by unauthorized ground stations as well as by
could be undertaken by such a small platform that could satellites outside the network but still within range of the
be constructed within reasonable cost and schedule. As constellation. Omnidirectional antennas are also ineffi-
the success of these mostly academic demonstrations be- cient, as power is radiated in all directions, not just in the
came clearer, the CubeSat community started to expand to direction of the intended receiver. This is a large concern
commercial and government entities that had once been for a CubeSat in which DC power is at a premium.
skeptical. The next decade may well show just how far In covert or security-sensitive networks, signal inter-
CubeSat applications can go. ception can be prevented by employing direct crosslinks
One example of such a project is QB50, an interna- with conventional phased-array antennas. However, for
tional network of 50 CubeSats whose collective scientific CubeSats, processing power is a valuable resource and
mission is to study the temporal and spatial characteris- dynamic beam steering would add another layer of com-
tics of the lower thermosphere [25]. The project is headed plexity to the system, negating the advantages of the sim-
by the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Bel- ple, low-cost features of these small satellites.
gium), the European Space Agency, and NASA. Each of
the CubeSats are 2U configurations, with 1U accommo- For CubeSat applications, an attractive alternative to
dating the scientific sensors and 1U accommodating the dynamic beam steering is a self-steering retrodirective ar-
satellite bus. The 50 CubeSats are being developed by ray [26] that permits secure crosslink communications be-
a truly international consortium of universities: 38 Cube- tween satellites moving randomly in space. Retrodirective
Sats developed by universities in 22 European countries, 8 antennas are able to sense the direction of an incoming
by universities in the US, 2 by universities in Canada and radio transmission and send a reply in that same direction,
2 by Japanese universities. All 50 CubeSats are planned without the complexities associated with phase shifters in
to be launched together on a single launch vehicle in the conventional phased arrays or digital signal processing in
second half of 2014. smart antennas. The directivity associated with retrodi-
rective arrays not only improves network security, but also
Networks of small satellites promise increased mis-
improves the communication link efficiency by minimizing
sion flexibility and success by distributing the tasks and
power consumption.
subsystems typical of a single large satellite. An au-
tonomous, distributed nanosatellite network also reduces Of course, there are many other enabling technolo-
the possibility of catastrophic single-point failure; if one gies that need to be developed to make CubeSat swarms
satellite fails, others can take up the slack until a re- a reality. Distributed computing and power management
placement is launched. Furthermore, in a hostile-attack are just a few of the advances that we may see in the near
scenario, an enemy will find it much more difficult to im- future.

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have grown considerably since that time, ironically the


industry is coming full circle, with small satellites again
stirring worldwide interest. CubeSats, in particular, have
begun to inspire a whole new generation of students inter-
ested in space science, technology, and missions. In fact,
one of the co-authors of this article (Bryan Fewell) built
his own CubeSat as an 8th grader (Figure 8), an amazing
feat considering that most CubeSat projects are under-
taken by college students. The broader implication is that
small satellites aren’t just enablers of new technologies
and systems. They’re enabling a whole new generation of
Figure 7. SpaceShip: a monolithic satellite-on-a-chip [28]. students in whose hands the future of small satellites will
lie.

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