Orbital Space Science Projects at NNU
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by the NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium.
Abstract
MakerSat-0, Idaho’s first satellite, was launched into polar orbit in November 2017 from Vandenberg, CA. It was designed and built by student teams from NNU Engineering and Caldwell HS to study 3D printed polymer degradation and radiation in earth orbit. It has now made 9000 orbits and travelled 270million miles! Its sister satellite, MakerSat-1, will be launched to the ISS this December from Florida aboard SpaceX-19 and then into its own orbit in January aboard NG-12 Cygnus. It is the first spacecraft explicitly designed to be 3D printed and snap-assembled by astronauts, all in zero-gravity while aboard the ISS. MakerSat-0 and MakerSat-1 are both testing four different 3D printed plastic polymers (ABS, Nylon, PLA, PEI Ultem) to help select the most robust material for future 3D printed spacecraft. In space, polymers are exposed to outgassing, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, and monoatomic oxygen plasma erosion. All of these tend to erode the polymer mass and strength at varying rates, depending on their density. Small samples of these plastics are mounted on the end of vibrating piezoelecric micro-cantilevers, whose resonant frequencies are measured to resolve milligram mass losses caused by the harsh orbital environment. MakerSat-0 showed PLA and PEI to be the most robust.
RFTSat, a larger 3U cubesat, was designed and built at NNU in collaboration with Georgia Tech. It’s mission is to demonstrate the in-orbit operation of a novel 5.8GHz Radio Frequency Tag (RFT) energy scavenging and backscattering communication system. This system will make batteryless, wireless distributed sensor tag networks possible for future large space stations and structures. It was launched into orbit this month (July 21st ) on SpaceX-18 to the ISS and then into its own orbit using the SEOPS SlingShot deployer from the Cygnus capsule. It will send its data back to NNU over the coming months.
NNU and University of Hawaii-Kauai are collaborating for 2019-20 on a RockSat-X sub-orbital space science payload design. It will contain a 360 degree 3D Virtual Reality camera mounted along with another RF Tag experiment on the end of a meter-long scissor boom extended away from the rocket. It will be completed and launched in August 2020 from NASA Wallops, Virginia on a 30 minute spaceflight.
Orbital Space Science Projects at NNU
MakerSat-0, Idaho’s first satellite, was launched into polar orbit in November 2017 from Vandenberg, CA. It was designed and built by student teams from NNU Engineering and Caldwell HS to study 3D printed polymer degradation and radiation in earth orbit. It has now made 9000 orbits and travelled 270million miles! Its sister satellite, MakerSat-1, will be launched to the ISS this December from Florida aboard SpaceX-19 and then into its own orbit in January aboard NG-12 Cygnus. It is the first spacecraft explicitly designed to be 3D printed and snap-assembled by astronauts, all in zero-gravity while aboard the ISS. MakerSat-0 and MakerSat-1 are both testing four different 3D printed plastic polymers (ABS, Nylon, PLA, PEI Ultem) to help select the most robust material for future 3D printed spacecraft. In space, polymers are exposed to outgassing, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, and monoatomic oxygen plasma erosion. All of these tend to erode the polymer mass and strength at varying rates, depending on their density. Small samples of these plastics are mounted on the end of vibrating piezoelecric micro-cantilevers, whose resonant frequencies are measured to resolve milligram mass losses caused by the harsh orbital environment. MakerSat-0 showed PLA and PEI to be the most robust.
RFTSat, a larger 3U cubesat, was designed and built at NNU in collaboration with Georgia Tech. It’s mission is to demonstrate the in-orbit operation of a novel 5.8GHz Radio Frequency Tag (RFT) energy scavenging and backscattering communication system. This system will make batteryless, wireless distributed sensor tag networks possible for future large space stations and structures. It was launched into orbit this month (July 21st ) on SpaceX-18 to the ISS and then into its own orbit using the SEOPS SlingShot deployer from the Cygnus capsule. It will send its data back to NNU over the coming months.
NNU and University of Hawaii-Kauai are collaborating for 2019-20 on a RockSat-X sub-orbital space science payload design. It will contain a 360 degree 3D Virtual Reality camera mounted along with another RF Tag experiment on the end of a meter-long scissor boom extended away from the rocket. It will be completed and launched in August 2020 from NASA Wallops, Virginia on a 30 minute spaceflight.
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