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Form : Presenter Application Form registered at 2010-02-12 16:49:13
Name : Dr. Carl S. Brandon
Name of Organization : Vermont Technical College

Abstract Summary : Lunar Lander / Orbiter CubeSats

We have received a NASA Consortium Development Grant for Vermont Technical College to build prototype CubeSats for travel from a geostationary satellite launch to the moon. One spacecraft will involve a two-unit CubeSat bi propellant booster to go from a geostationary transfer ellipse to the moon. It will enter lunar orbit while carrying a single CubeSat lunar lander. The second triple CubeSat will have a xenon ion drive to carry it from a geostationary transfer ellipse via a low-energy transfer through L1 to enter lunar orbit. The single-unit CubeSat lander is designed for landing on the Moon from a 100 km orbit. The 0.53 kg of propellant is a hypergolic combination of mono-methyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Four 1.0 N radiation cooled thrusters are at one end, with the pair on each side canted slightly toward each other. This design allows for full three-axis control with differential use of the four thrusters. The bi propellant booster, a double-unit CubeSat, would have the same propulsion system, but with 1.5 kg of propellant. With the single unit lander attached, this package would be capable of generating a Δv of 2,000 m/s, which would be sufficient to leave a geostationary transfer ellipse at the apogee with escape velocity and to enter lunar orbit. A triple-unit CubeSat ion drive spacecraft will also be developed in parallel. The preliminary design for this spacecraft is based on the mission profile of the SMART-1 spacecraft of the European Space Agency. However, our design will use the CubeSat-sized NASA-JPL developed miniature xenon ion thruster MiXI with a specific impulse of 2,000-5,000 seconds. The thruster will be used as is, with only a gimbal added or grid beam steering, both have been developed for previous ion drives. With this thruster, a 0.5 kg propellant load of xenon would give a Δv of about 3,500-8,900 m/s. Power for the thruster will come from photovoltaic cells on the spacecraft and four fold out panels. The control software for the mission will be written in Ada (as used on the Cassini and other NASA missions) / SPARK. It has a record of producing reliable software, with about 1% the error rate of C. We have developed extensive experience with this system in our NASA-funded Arctic Sea Ice Buoy project. The overall CubeSat mission will be completely robotic, as the spacecraft will be entirely autonomous. Navigation will be by optical means using sun, moon and earth tracking with GPS enhancement while near perigee. Optics will also determine attitude during the descent to the lunar surface and measure the lateral velocity during the landing phase. The optical sensor development of both hardware and software will be done by faculty and students at Norwich University Low-energy transfer strategies and the effect of radiation exposure from the Van Allen belts and solar coronal mass ejections will be modeled by faculty and students at the University of Vermont. They will also study strategies for coordinating multiple spacecraft.