Related papers: CubeSats for Gamma-Ray Astronomy
The idea behind FIRST (Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope) is to use single-mode fibers to combine multiple apertures in a pupil plane as such as to synthesize a bigger aperture. The advantages with respect to a pure imager are i)…
With the advent of the nanosat/cubesat revolution, new opportunities have appeared to develop and launch small ($\sim$\ts 1000 cm$^3$), low-cost ($\sim$\ts US\$ 1M) experiments in space in very short timeframes ($\sim$ 2\ts years). In the…
Drones provide a versatile platform for remote sensing and atmospheric studies. However, strict payload mass limits and intense vibrations have proven obstacles to adoption for astronomy. We present a concept for system-level testing of a…
Small satellites such as CubeSats pose demanding requirements on the weight, size, and multifunctionality of their structures due to extreme constraints on the payload mass and volume. To address this challenge, we introduce a concept of…
The rise of time-domain astronomy including electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves, gravitational microlensing, explosive phenomena, and even astrometry with Gaia, are showing the power and need for surveys with high-cadence,…
There is a growing interest in Lunar exploration fed by the perception that the Moon can be made accessible to low-cost missions in the next decade. The on-going projects to set a communications relay in Lunar orbit and a deep space…
A Drag-Free CubeSat mission has been proposed to demonstrate the feasibility of a Gravitational Reference Sensor (GRS) with an optical readout for a 3 units (3U) spacecraft. A purely drag-free object is defined by the absence of all…
Space systems miniaturization has been increasingly popular for the past decades, with over 1600 CubeSats and 300 sub-CubeSat sized spacecraft estimated to have been launched since 1998. This trend towards decreasing size enables the…
Small-satellites and CubeSats offer a low-cost pathway to access Low Earth Orbit at altitudes of 450 km and lower thanks to miniaturization and advancement in reliability of commercial electronics. However, at these low altitudes,…
The recent, rapid advancement in space exploration is thanks to the accelerated miniaturization of electronics components on a spacecraft that is reducing the mass, volume and cost of satellites. Yet, access to space remains a distant dream…
The miniaturization of electronic and mechanical components has allowed for an unprecedented downscaling of spacecraft size and mass. Today, spacecraft with a mass between 1 to 10 grams, AttoSats, have been developed and operated in space.…
Pulsars seen at gamma-ray energies offer insight into particle acceleration to very high energies, along with information about the geometry and interaction processes in the magnetospheres of these rotating neutron stars. During the next…
The Gamma-Ray Integrated Detectors (GRID) is a space mission concept dedicated to monitoring the transient gamma-ray sky in the energy range from 10 keV to 2 MeV using scintillation detectors onboard CubeSats in low Earth orbits. The…
HERMES (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites) is a space-borne mission based on a constellation of nano-satellites flying in a low-Earth orbit (LEO). The six 3U CubeSat buses host new miniaturized instruments hosting a hybrid…
CubeSats are miniature satellites used to carry experimental payloads into orbit, where it is often critical to precisely control their attitude. One way to do this is through the use of magnetorquers, which can be integrated into PCBs.…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions expected in the Main Belt. They are diverse in their physical properties and compositions. They are also time capsules of the early Solar System making them valuable for…
The number of small satellites has grown dramatically in the past decade from tens of satellites per year in the mid-2010s to a projection of tens of thousands in orbit by the mid-2020s. This presents both problems and opportunities for…
CubeSats offer a flexible and low-cost option to increase the scientific and technological return of small-body exploration missions. ESA's Hera mission, the European component of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA)…
Context. There is currently a niche for providing high-cadence, high resolution, time-series optical spectroscopy from space, which can be filled by using a low-cost cubesat mission. The Belgian-led ESA CubeSpec mission is specifically…
The first simultaneous detection of a short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) with a gravitational-wave (GW) signal ushered in a new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In order to increase the number of SGRB-GW simultaneous detections, we need full sky…