A new type of small spacecraft, the cubesat, has introduced a new concept for extremely small, low-cost missions into space. Cubesats are designed to be launched as secondary payloads on other missions, and are made up of unit elements (U) of size 10 cm by 10 cm by 10 cm, with a nominal mass of no more than 1.33 kg per U. We have designed a cubesat, OPTEC (Orbital Photovoltaic Testbed Cubesat) as a low-cost testbed to demonstrate, calibrate, and test solar cell technologies in space. Size of the cubesat is 2U (10x10x20cm, and the mass 2.66 kg. The cubesat deploys from the International Space Station into Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of about 420 km. Up to two 4x8cm test solar panels can be flown, with full I-V curves and temperature measurements taken.
OPTEC: A Cubesat for Solar Cell Calibration
2014
24 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Electrotechnology , Unmanned Spacecraft , Manned Spacecraft , Nanosatellites , Calibrating , Tumbling motion , Attitude stability , Tethering , Stationkeeping , Satellite communication , Spacecraft launching , Electronic equipment tests , Solar cells , Satellite solar energy conversion , Satellite solar power stations , Satellite temperature , Pointing control systems , Control boards , Satellite attitude control , Payloads , Low earth orbits , Small satellite technology , Satellite networks , Satellite design , Spacecraft electronic equipment , Low cost
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