KSP Community CubeSat

[Mazon Del]

Luis tells me he envisions the system working entirely in the IR realm, but as far as I am concerned, if the only way we can package it together involves visible light, I doubt it will do too much to the moss to have light for a couple fractions of a second.

[tutrakan4e]

Hello everyone,

I've read some of the first and some of the last pages (160 pages pls) and realised I should tune in. I can't supply you with any materials but I live in Bulgaria. I think the only way I'll be able to help you is by tracking the Cubesat. I don't think you have a lot of people in Eastern Europe that are going to be tracking, so that's a plus. It will also be incredibly exciting for me and I think (just think) I might get an A in physics class for participating.

I'll be following your progress, if you ever actually do launch the thing, I'll be more than happy to help!

[Nicholander]

Also, how many ground stations will we need to be able to get short enough connection time intervals in the 3 weeks that it will be orbiting?

[Mazon Del]

Strictly speaking, if we had one that was positioned correctly and everything went perfectly. Just the one.

More likely, the more the merrier!

From what I am told it is actually a point of pride amongst hobby radio operators to participate in such a thing and so there are ways of recruiting help in their various forums.

[Treldon]

Strictly speaking, if we had one that was positioned correctly and everything went perfectly. Just the one.

More likely, the more the merrier!

From what I am told it is actually a point of pride amongst hobby radio operators to participate in such a thing and so there are ways of recruiting help in their various forums.

Yes, getting information from the sat will most likely be easy, though not instantaneous. But to send out commands we can probably only rely on our own station(s)

As for the amount/type of light inside the specimen chamber: it cannot be pitch black. That would mean an absolute absence of light, thus we could not have pictures.

For IR we can install a simple IR LED (costs about $0.7), and any webcam can be converted into IR cam based on several guides like this

[Nicholander]

Should we also have a regular color camera too, there could be a small light which would be on for a fraction of a second maybe while the camera takes the picture. Just a thought, maybe we can only fit 1 camera. (Though we could have the camera be able to switch between infrared and regular color, though I don't know if we can find one that can do that that will fit)

[henryrasia]

The camera's a discussion on its own, which requires knowing exactly what kind of data we're looking for. Can anyone with any vague idea of the figures (temperature requirements, volume, energy input/output, etc) do a quick, back of the envelope calculation about the power demand? We NEED that in order to know what to look for on terms of solar panels and batteries.

Edited November 22, 2014 by henryrasia
Typos :P

[K^2]

Also, how many ground stations will we need to be able to get short enough connection time intervals in the 3 weeks that it will be orbiting?

I can set up some software for people to use that's literally just requiring an amateur radio station tuned to correct frequency and hooked up to an audio jack on PC. Data rate won't be great, but I'm sure we'll find enough volunteers that would be able to receive position updates and some other data from the sat on regular basis.

Visual tracking would be helpful as well, even if merely to confirm that it passed terminator when we predicted it should, which can be done by anyone with a telescope or a good set of binoculars.

[Nicholander]

K^2, do you have even a vague idea on how much power our CubeSat will consume?

Also, could you put the logo Lunniy Korabl made in the first post K^2? (The image is right below)

Edited November 23, 2014 by Nicholander

[zekes]

I have been watching this thread since it started but i'm hopelessly behind, is there any way i can help? I would love to be a part of this.

[Aningaaq]

I have been watching this thread since it started but i'm hopelessly behind, is there any way i can help? I would love to be a part of this.

Like wise.

[henryrasia]

Everyone is welcome! Any help is appreciated, no matter how little (even just asking questions might help clarify some issue!)

[Steambirds]

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is this? Is this basically the KSP community pooling together to do some real-world satellite launch?

[Aningaaq]

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is this? Is this basically the KSP community pooling together to do some real-world satellite launch?

It is more of a community effort to research and hopefully design a cube-sat which is essentially a low-cost satellite. I suppose crowdfunding would be involved (not just the KSP community at that point) if it is taken to a site like kickstarter. The community wouldn't be launching it themselves but rather trying to have it piggyback on another launch that hosts other cube-sats (usually for a fee)

[Ravenchant]

Physics undergrad here, how can I help?

In the case of the mission going anywhere below LEO, the moss experiment will almost certainly need to be eschewed. Regulations about avoiding contamination with life and so on. There's no way a cubesat could hold up to those standards.

[Nicholander]

I have been watching this thread since it started but i'm hopelessly behind, is there any way i can help? I would love to be a part of this.

Let me sum up what our CubeSat will do:

The CubeSat will be a 1U (Perfect 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm cube), and it will be in two sections: The top section will have a pressurized area, it will have moss and some sensors to monitor that moss, the CubetSat will spin to create artificial sub-gravity (Like 0.16 G, or 0.38 G), and monitor how the moss reacts and grows in this new environment. The bottom section will have everything else, the MPU, CPU, communications, etc.

[K^2]

@Ravenchant. How far along are you in your studies? I can probably use another set of eyes to look over the equations of motion. But I don't want to scare you with graduate level mechanics if you haven't had a classical mechanics course yet. Though, theory isn't critical here, it's mostly just Diff Eqs. If you'd like to take a crack at a few checks, I can write out what you'd need.

The moss mission is designed for LEO. The sat's orbit will eventually decay, resulting in total disintegration and sterilization of the experiment during reentry.

If we can put together a beyond-LEO mission in the future, that one will almost certainly focus on propulsion and navigation, and there will not be a biological payload.

[MBobrik]

I have been watching this thread since it started but i'm hopelessly behind, is there any way i can help? I would love to be a part of this.

Nearly the same here too, I've been busy doing other stuff (work, and too exhausted to do pretty much anything else) during the last 10 or so months, and missed almost all of this.

I would love to make some meaningful contribution, but don't even know where to begin. Who is in charge ( K^2 ? ), who does the planning, where the sat's designs are, what is done, what has to be done yet.

[LABHOUSE]

Now just don't be like congress and procrastinate or cancel it.

[Nicholander]

Also, K^2, how's the sim going? And henryrasia, how are your plans on going to the 1st Latin American IAA CubeSat Workshop?

Edited November 23, 2014 by Nicholander

[henryrasia]

To all willing to join, any help is appreciated. Importance in the project will be determined by how much you help, no matter WHAT exactly is your help. So public relations, research, designing, building, launching, tracking, or even just supporting is of great help!

To MBobrick, there's nothing done until now except for the basic mission goals. That means any input will be heard! And there's no leader either, as none of us can dedicate full time into this. In a way, we all have the same level of responsibility and authority because we aren't professionals on anything, but we are kinda good at something! It's truly a community project.

Let me write a declaration to post here and on the doc, hold on.

and to Nicholander, I don't think we can go to the conference because we'd have to be really advanced into the design phase, which I dint think we can catch up until the registration deadline.

And to K^2, let's make those power calculations ASAP, we're stuck without them!

[K^2]

Working on it, working on it.

If you want to help save me some time with it, one of you can try and do some search for data available on Earth's magnetic field. I'd prefer a parameterization, like what is done with gravity, but if all you can find is a high rez map, that's a start.

[Nicholander]

and to Nicholander, I don't think we can go to the conference because we'd have to be really advanced into the design phase, which I didn't think we can catch up until the registration deadline.

Well, that sucks. We'll probably be ready to go to the next one, assuming it's next year in December 2015. Or maybe there will be one earlier near where another one of us lives.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Nicholander

[Treldon]

Working on it, working on it.

If you want to help save me some time with it, one of you can try and do some search for data available on Earth's magnetic field. I'd prefer a parameterization, like what is done with gravity, but if all you can find is a high rez map, that's a start.

Not exactly sure what kind of map I should be looking for, but I did find this one about main field total intensity, and another about inclination. Searching for something more akin to that link

Update:

Found this site (NOAA)

You can download a bunch of high res maps, as well as a software that should be able to calculate seven magnetic components (F, H, I, D, X, Y, Z)

Also got an online calculator for these

Edited November 24, 2014 by Treldon

[LvL]

http://www.gizmodo.in/science/Australia-Is-Building-a-Pee-Powered-Ion-Thruster/articleshow/19163595.cms

possible propulsion???