Ana González Manso, María Hermosilla Heras & Lucía Ballesteros Grande, QubeeLAB.
Ana, Lucía and María are currently finishing their master's degree in Space Systems at the Technical University of Madrid. They are also part of the QubeeLab Space Club, in which they are designing and manufacturing an active attitude determination and control system for 1.5P PocketQubes. Within the framework of their studies at the university, they are carrying out several space-related projects, such as the integration and testing of a 1U CubeSat or the design, manufacture and testing of an adapting system in composite material. They have an aeronautical background and have now specialised in the space sector, where they hope to make relevant contributions.
Presentation Synopsis:
“Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem for PocketQubes based on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Components”
The PocketQube (PQ) reduced size and mass requirements imply significant efforts to scale down its elementary subsystems. One of the subsystems that offer the greatest capacity for improvement is the Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS), since most PQ do not usually have one due to lack of space. Among all existing ADCS strategies, magnetic attitude control has turned into an attractive alternative for the attitude control of small satellites with not-too-demanding orientation requirements. This strategy significantly saves overall power and reduces weight, cost, and the subsystem’s complexity compared to other attitude control options.
The UPMQube project implements an ADCS based on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components that can be adapted to PQ as small as 1.5P. The complete ADCS is divided into two independent subsystems: (i) an attitude determination subsystem (ADS) based on solar and thermal sensors on the surface of the PQ and (ii) an autonomous magnetic controller (AMC) based on a triaxial magnetometer and magnetorquers on board the PQ platform; the magnetorquers and the integrated circuit board, are directly designed and manufactured by UPMQube Team. For the AMC, a novel magnetic control algorithm is implemented, based on a modification of the B-dot control law. This ADCS is designed to operate in any condition imposed by the PQ and the launcher. Thus, use-case flexibility is ensured, as the developed AMC is appropriate for any LEO. In addition, the system guarantees a detumbling phase after the PQ deployment, so non-special deployment conditions are required for the launcher. Integrating a compact, complete and low-cost ADCS system for PQ will greatly expand its possible applications. The UPMQube Team is confident that the developed ADCS can be adequately qualified for space applications in a short period of time (< 3 years).
D. Aranda-Pradana, C. Arroyo-Ruiz, L. Ballesteros-Grande, E. Bastida-Pertegaz, A. Benito de Valle-Egido, V. Dominguez-Rodriguez, C. Gomez-Navajas, M. Gonzalez-Alonso, A. Gonzalez-Manso ∗ , D.I. Halip, M. Hermosilla-Heras, J.E. Martinez-Esmeral, M.M. Nuñez-Haro, M.F. Paez-Lopez, A. Peña-Capalvo and H. Rubio-Arnaldo Space Systems Master’s Degree students, Instituto Universitario de Microgravedad “Ignacio Da Riva”, ETSIAE, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Pl. del Cardenal Cisneros, 3, 28040 Madrid J.M. Alvarez-Romero Researcher, Instituto Universitario de Microgravedad “Ignacio Da Riva”, ETSIAE, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Pl. del Cardenal Cisneros, 3, 28040 Madrid E. Roibas-Millan∗∗ Professor, Instituto Universitario de Microgravedad “Ignacio Da Riva”, ETSIAE, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Pl. del Cardenal Cisneros, 3, 28040 Madrid