Related papers: Multifunctional Bistable Ultrathin Composite Booms…
CubeSats have the potential to expand astrophysical discovery space, complementing ground-based electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observatories. The CubeSat design specifications help streamline delivery of instrument payloads to…
The use of cubesat swarms is being proposed for different missions where cooperation between satellites is required. Commonly, the cube swarm requires formation flight and even rendezvous and docking, which are very challenging tasks since…
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,…
Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising space applications. CubeSats are particularly attractive due to their low development costs which makes them very promising in playing a…
After many years of flying in space primarily for educational purposes, CubeSats - tiny satellites with form factors corresponding to arrangements of "1U" units, or cubes, each 10 cm on a side - have come into their own as valuable…
This paper addresses the limitations of current satellite payload architectures, which are predominantly hardware-driven and lack the flexibility to adapt to increasing data demands and uneven traffic. To overcome these challenges, we…
The bistable deployable composite boom (Bi-DCB) can realize the bistable function by storing and releasing strain energy, which has a good application prospect in the aerospace field. In this paper, the folding stable state of the Bi-DCB…
Satellites are the efficient way to achieve global scale quantum communication (Q.Com) because unavoidable losses restrict fiber based Q.Com to a few hundred kilometers. We demonstrate the feasibility of establishing a Q.Com uplink with a…
Composites are ideally suited to achieve desirable multifunctional effective properties since the best properties of different materials can be judiciously combined with designed microstructures. Here we establish cross-property relations…
Previous mechanical meta-structures used for mechanical memory storage, computing and information processing are severely constrained by low information density and/or non-robust structural stiffness to stably protect the maintained…
To enable space-based quantum key distribution proposals the Centre for Quantum Technologies is developing a source of entangled photons ruggedized to survive deployment in space and greatly miniaturised so that it conforms to the strict…
Space observatories for gravitational radiation such as LISA are equipped with dedicated on-board instrumentation capable of measuring magnetic fields with low-noise conditions at millihertz frequencies. The reason is that the core…
Mechanical metamaterials capable of large deformations are an emerging platform for functional devices and structures across scales. Bistable designs are particularly attractive since they endow a single object with two configurations that…
Bistable tape spring booms are used on spacecraft for their ability to self-deploy using stored strain energy. However, their uncontrolled deployment can induce mechanical shocks that are variable as a function of material properties and…
True microrobots, in contrast with externally controlled microparticles, must harvest or carry their own source of energy, as well as their own (preferably programmable) microcontroller of actuators for locomotion, using information…
An approach towards wireless ranging and synchronization using commercial of-the-shelf software-defined radio payloads for small satellites, esp. CubeSats is studied. The approach only relies on the programmable logic configuration and…
Cube satellites, or CubeSats, are small satellites commonly used to perform Earth imaging and on-orbit scientific experiments. CubeSats are often powered using expensive, inflexible commercial-off-the-shelf solar panels, largely due to a…
Deployable structures, essential across various engineering applications ranging from umbrellas to satellites, are evolving to include soft, morphable designs where geometry drives transformation. However, a major challenge for soft…
Transforming planar mesoscale devices into precise 3-D architectures is vital for next-generation flexible electronics, implants, and adaptive optics, yet wafer-based manufacturing to free-standing 3-D structures remain elusive. We…
Modular small-scale robots offer the potential for on-demand assembly and disassembly, enabling task-specific adaptation in dynamic and constrained environments. However, existing modular magnetic platforms often depend on workspace…