Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine June 2017 - 34

Feature Article:

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2017.150245

LituanicaSAT-2: Design of The 3U In-Orbit Technology
Demonstration CubeSat
Laurynas Mač iulis, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, Lithuania and
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Vytenis Buzas, Vilnius University, Lithuania

INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

THE QB50 MISSION
The QB50 Mission is a network of 36 CubeSats built by universities all over the world to perform first-class science in the largely
unexplored thermosphere around Earth. 28 QB50 CubeSats will be
launched to the International Space Station via NanoRacks LLC
and deployed from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD)
during Q2 of 2017. The remaining CubeSats will be deployed via
an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launcher rocket
as secondary payloads during Q2 of 2017 as well. LituanicaSAT-2
will be deployed with the latter group of satellites.
This network of small satellites will have by no means a small
mission: to carry out long-term measurements of key parameters
and constituents in yet largely unexplored lower thermosphere and
ionosphere. While in orbit, the satellites will slowly descend to
lower and lower layers of thermosphere due to atmospheric drag,
revealing the spatial and temporal distributions of the parameters
measured [1].
The uniqueness of this mission is that for the first time such a
huge number of small nanosatellites, weighing less than 4 kg and
manufactured to academic standards by students in universities
from all over the world will unite into one harmonious intersatellite
network in space. These satellites will share one common goal: to
find answers to fundamental science questions related to the nature
and makeup of the thermosphere that surrounds us.
The mission is also interesting from the spacecraft engineering
point of view as it poses new challenges for attitude determination
and control, communication, and other aspects of nanosatellite design and operation.
Authors' current address: L. Macˇiulis, Antanas Gustaitis
Institute of Aviation, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University,
Rodu¯nios kelias 30, Vilnius, Lithuania; L. Macˇiulis and V. Buzas, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius University, Didlaukio str. 47, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail:
(laurynas.maciulis&vgtu.lt).
Manuscript received October 26, 2015, revised July 23, 2016,
October 13, 2016, and ready for publication November 30,
2016.
Review handled by M. Jah.
0885/8985/17/$26.00 © 2017 IEEE
34

LituanicaSAT-2 is the second CubeSat project led by Vilnius
University following a successful completion of LituanicaSAT-1
[2]. LituanicaSAT-2 is mainly based on design heritage from the
LituanicaSAT-1 - a 1U technology demonstration and educational
CubeSat launched from the International Space Station (ISS) in
2014. Although it will be launched as the university's second CubeSat, the work on LituanicaSAT-2 actually began earlier in 2011.
The original concept of LituanicaSAT-2, previously named "Kosmis" (Figure 1), was proposed by the authors of this article to the
QB50 committee and accepted in June of 2012.

LITUANICASAT-2 MISSION OBJECTIVES
LituanicaSAT-2 is a 3U In-Orbit Technology Demonstration CubeSat,
consisting of 3 main units: a science unit, a functional unit, and an experimental unit. The science unit will contain a set of standardized sensors for the QB50 scientific mission called FIPEX. The functional unit
is composed of an on-board control (OBC) subsystem, electrical power
supply (EPS), attitude determination and control subsystem (ADCS),
and communications (COM) subsystem. The experimental unit contains a chemical propulsion technology demonstration payload.

Science Payload
The science payload selected for LituanicaSAT-2 by the QB50
consortium is called a Flux-Φ-Probe-Experiment or FIPEX for
short. FIPEX is able to distinguish and measure the time-resolved

Figure 1.

Artist's concept of original design of LituanicaSAT-2 (aka "Kosmis").

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JUNE 2017



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