• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2013

TRiplet Ionospheric Observatory-CubeSat for Ion, Neutron, Electron & MAgnetic fields (TRIO-CINEMA) is a CubeSat with 3.14 kg in weight and 3-U ($10{\times}10{\times}30$ cm) in size, jointly developed by Kyung Hee University and UC Berkeley to measure magnetic fields of near Earth space and detect plasma particles. When a satellite is launched into orbit, it encounters ultra-high vacuum and extreme temperature. To verify the operation and survivability of the satellite in such an extreme space environment, experimental tests are conducted on the ground using thermal vacuum chamber. This paper describes the temperature control device and monitoring system suitable for CubeSat test environment using the thermal vacuum chamber of the School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University. To build the chamber, we use a general purpose thermal analysis program and NX 6.0 TMG program. We carry out thermal vacuum tests on the two flight models developed by Kyung Hee University based on the thermal model of the TRIO-CINEMA satellite. It is expected from this experiment that proper operation of the satellite in the space environment will be achieved.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.144-153
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• 2023

The existing military satellite communication system was based on geostationary satellites equipped with special communication payloads against enemy's jamming and signal reception. With the advent of new weapon systems such as unmanned systems, the need for low-orbit satellite-based communication system is increasing. This paper introduces various waveform technologies suitable for cube satellite-based communication system and the operational concept of a future military nanosatellite communication system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.529-534
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• 2014

Pyrotechnic devices are widely used for space appendages. However, a cube satellite requirements do not permit the use of explosive pyrotechnic device. A nichrome burn wire release has typically been used for holding and release of deployable appendages of the cube satellite due to its simplicity and low cost. However, relatively low mechanical constraint force and system complexity for application of multi-deployable systems are disadvantages of the conventional mechanism. To overcome these drawbacks, we developed a hinge driving segmented nut type holding and release mechanism based on the nichrome burn wire release. The functional performance of the mechanism has been verified through release function test, static load test and shock level measurement test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.827-832
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• 2013

Heating wire cutting type separation mechanism has been widely used for cube satellite applications due to its design constraints such as small size of $10cm{\times}10cm{\times}10cm$ and light weight of less than 1kg. In addition, usage of pyro technic device is not allowed for cube satellite application. The conventional methods have some disadvantages of relatively small mechanical constraint force and the system complexity for the multi-deployable systems. In this paper, a separation nut type non-explosive separation mechanism has been proposed and investigated. The effectiveness of the design has been verified through the qualification tests of the mechanism.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.58.4-59
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• 2021

This presentation introduces Korea's SNIPE (Small scale magNespheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment) mission, formation flying CubeSat constellation. Observing particles and waves on a single satellite suffers from inherent space-time ambiguity. To observe spatial and temporal variations of the micro-scale plasma structures on the topside ionosphere, four 6U CubeSats (~ 10 kg) will be launched into a polar orbit of the altitude of ~500 km in 2021. The distances of each satellite will be controlled from 10 km to more than 100 km by formation flying algorithm. The SNIPE mission is equipped with identical scientific instruments, solid-state telescope, magnetometer, and Langmuir probe. All the payloads have a high temporal resolution (sampling rates of about 10 Hz). Iridium modules provide an opportunity to upload changes in operational modes when geomagnetic storms occur. SNIPE's observations of the dimensions, occurrence rates, amplitudes, and spatiotemporal evolution of polar cap patches, field-aligned currents (FAC), radiation belt microbursts, and equatorial and mid-latitude plasma blobs and bubbles will determine their significance to the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction and quantify their impact on space weather.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.9
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• pp.814-824
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• 2016

The mission objective of STEP Cube Lab. (Cube Laboratory for Space Technology Experimental Project) classified as a pico-class satellite is to find space core technologies researched at domestic industry or university and to verify these technologies on mission orbit. To implement this objective, system level electrical integration and function test (EIT) by using developed flight software were performed in compliance with system requirements. And the effectiveness of the flight model (FM) was verified through launch and thermal vacuum test at acceptance level. This paper will introduce a series of process of electrical function tests for FM EIT, launch and thermal vacuum tests.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.104-109
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• 2023

The Cube Satellite Contest has been held six times as of August 2023, and a total of 21 teams have been selected. Fifteen Cube Satellites selected in previous contests were successfully launched and entered into low-Earth orbit. The six Cube Satellites selected in the sixth contest in 2022 are currently undergoing detailed design, and are scheduled to be launched in 2025 using a Korean launch vehicle. In this study, we analyzed the initial operation reports submitted by the selected teams of the Cube Satellite Contest in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 to assess mission performance and identify causes of mission failure. Based on the submitted reports, an improvement scheme to enhance mission success for future Cube Satellites is proposed.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2012

Triplet Ionospheric Observatory (TRIO) CubeSatforIon, Neutral, Electron MAgneticfields (CINEMA) is a CubeSat with the weight 3 kg that will be operated in the orbit conditions of about 800 km altitude and $90^{\circ}$ inclination angle, using the S-band and ultra-high frequency (UHF)-band communication frequencies. Regarding the communication antenna loaded on the satellite, the two patch antennas has the downlink function in the S-band, whereas the two whip antennas has the function to receive the command sent by the ground station to the satellite in the UHF-band. The uplink ground station that communicates through the UHF-band with the CINEMA satellite was established at Kyung Hee University. The system is mainly composed of a terminal node controller, a transceiver, and a helical antenna. The gain of the helical antenna established at the Kyung Hee University ground station was 9.8 dBi. The output of the transceiver was set to be 5 W (6.9 dB) for the communication test. Through the far-field test of the established system, it was verified that the Roman characters, figures and symbols were converted into packets and transmitted to the satellite receiver in the communication speed of 9,600 bps.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.911-915
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• 2014

Pyrotechnic devices are widely used for space appendages. However, a cube satellite requirements do not permit the use of explosive pyrotechnic device. A nichrome burn wire release has typically been used for holding and release of deployable appendages of the cube satellite due to its simplicity and low cost. However, relatively low mechanical constraint force and system complexity for application of multi-deployable systems are disadvantages of the conventional mechanism. To overcome these drawbacks, we have developed a segmented nut type holding and release mechanism based on the nichrome burn wire release. The great advantages of the mechanism are much lower shock level and larger constraint force than the conventional mechanism using pyro. Flight model for on-orbit verification was developed and verified through release function test, vibration test and thermal vacuum test.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.401-406
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• 2013

Non-explosive shockless holding and release mechanism for a nano class small satellite application has been proposed and investigated. The great advantages of the mechanism are a much lower shock level and larger constraint force than the conventional mechanism using pyro and the heating wire cutting mechanism which has been generally applied to the cube satellite program. To investigate the effectiveness of the mechanism design, EM mechanism was developed and tested to verify the basic function of the mechanism. The test results indicate that the proposed mechanism is well functioning as the mechanism design intends.