Check out the CubeSat in AR!

Alpha's Innovations

As soon as Alpha CubeSat deploys from the International Space Station, it will stabilize and align itself with the Earth’s magnetic field. This will help us easily contact the CubeSat, and allow for a smooth deployment of the light sail. The CubeSat will stabilize itself using only magnetorquers—coils that produce their own magnetic field, which then interacts with Earth’s.

Another innovation is the use of a RockBlock transmitter with an Iridium modem. This modem allows us to communicate with the CubeSat over a satellite network. We don’t need to build any receiving or transmitting stations for the CubeSat on Earth—we can just send commands by connecting over the Internet!

After we release the light sail, the CubeSat will take a picture to make sure all went well. From then on, the sailing portion of the mission will rely on the light sail’s ChipSats.

Getting Technical: CubeSat Components

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Alpha CubeSat has six solar panels, each of which feed into the Sparkfun SunnyBuddy, a solar charge controller for the lithium-ion battery.

Alpha CubeSat has six solar panels, each of which feed into the Sparkfun SunnyBuddy, a solar charge controller for the lithium-ion battery.

Our flight computer is a Teensy 3.5 microcontroller (long green rectangle in the middle of this image). It features a 32-bit 120 MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor and a microSD card, which provides data storage prior to downlink.

Our flight computer is a Teensy 3.5 microcontroller (long green rectangle here). It features a 32-bit 120 MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor and a microSD card.

Our spacecraft sensors consist of voltage-divider setups and hobbyist breakout boards. The Attitude Control System, for example, uses a Sparkfun breakout board (red, on the right of image). As a 9-DOF inertial measurement unit (IMU), it provides 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer data to the flight computer.

Our sensors are voltage-divider setups and hobbyist breakout boards. The Sparkfun board (red, on right) collects accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer data.

The CubeSat is stabilized using just three torque rods assembled in-house from copper wire. Two Sparkfun Motor Driver Dual H-Bridges send current through these magnetorquers.

The CubeSat is stabilized with just three copper torque rods. Two Sparkfun Motor Driver Dual H-Bridges send current through these magnetorquers.

Alpha CubeSat’s parts are low-cost and commercially available—making space much less of a giant leap!

Us

cornellalphacubesat@gmail.com

124 Hoy Rd, 450 Upson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853