By P.Pranavi Beyond Night Sky

1957TILL DATE Beyond Night Sky

Space is all ready to be invaded by microsatellites… Beyond Night Sky

 Microsats  nanosats  Picosats  CubeSats Beyond Night Sky

 These little satellites could help understand weather phenomena, gives up-to-date maps, aid disaster relief.  Small satellites have recorded data on the terrestrial and space environment near the moon and Earth.  Helped in the search for planets on other star systems.  Demonstrated various telecommunication systems that we enjoy today.  These satellites have served as test beds for the development of new space technologies, and as hands-on educational tools for countless students, scientists, and engineers. Beyond Night Sky

Over the last 50 years, more than 860 microsatellites (10–100 kg), 680 nanosatellites (1–10 kg), 38 picosatellites (0.1–1 kg) have been launched worldwide Beyond Night Sky

PhoneSat is an ongoing NASA project, part of the Small Spacecraft Technology Program, of building nanosatellites using unmodified consumer-grade off-the-shelf smartphones and NASASmall Spacecraft Technology Programnanosatellites smartphones Arduino platform and launching them into Low Earth Orbit. This project was started in 2009 at NASA Ames Research CenterArduinoLow Earth OrbitNASA Ames Research Center Beyond Night Sky

So now … Android in space… Beyond Night Sky

 NASA built this small satellite out of an Android phone which is the main part of the satellite and other devices like gyroscopes, magnetorquers, magnetometers etc for attitude control and orientation control of the satellite.  The functions of a PhoneSAT are as same as that of a normal satellite. It can perform all operations that a normal satellite does. Beyond Night Sky

Small size Easy construction Less instrument requirement and low cost for development. Bulk production is possible which in turn helps in launching many at a time. Mainly it reduces space junk. Beyond Night Sky

 The first three versions were named as Graham (phonesat 1.0), Bell(modified phonesat 1.0), Alexander(2.0 beta).  They were launched as secondary payload on flight Antares. Beyond Night Sky

 They were inserted into a nearly circular orbit at 270 km, on an inclination from the equator of 51.6 degrees.  Due to the extremely low altitude of the orbit, all three satellites are to experience rapid orbital decay and completely burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Beyond Night Sky

 Phonesat2.4 was launched on november19th,2013. The construction of the PhoneSat 2.4 is similar to that of 1 st three versions. But this will be at a higher altitude. Beyond Night Sky

Phonesat2.5, fifth in the series : Expected orbital life-time of up to 6 weeks. Has a higher-gain S-Band antenna, which also serves as a pathfinder for EDSN’s S-band command and telemetry architecture. Beyond Night Sky

 The large memory, fast processors, high resolution cameras,GPS receivers, gyroscopes and magnetometer sensors common in smart phones make them excellent tools to use in space. Beyond Night Sky

 They buy the smart phone off the shelf,much like the one in your pocket or purse, they take it apart and repackage it to fit in the cube sat form and work in space. Beyond Night Sky

 Framing: The phone is fit into a frame called pumpkin frame to provide space qualified structure.  UHF beacon Radio- transmits either health or a picture every 30 seconds at MHz. Beyond Night Sky

 Magnetometers: They are used to measure the magnetic field strength at a particular point in space.  Magnetorquers : They are used in place of thrusters. For big orientations control.  Gyroscope: It is basically used to control the attitude of the satellite.  Reaction wheels: They are used when we need to rotate the satellite in small angles.like to point a star through the telescope available.  Sun sensors: Used as power source. Beyond Night Sky

WatchDog Board : Separate Aurdino microcontroller watches the health of the phone and beacon radio and has the ability to either reset (or) turnoff either of the components when any anomalies are detected. Beyond Night Sky

Alexander(2.0 beta)Graham (1.0) Bell(modified 1.0) Beyond Night Sky

 PhoneSat 1.0 uses a Nexus One smart phone (HTC) as the onboard computer running the Android operating system.Nexus One  This version has no solar panels and runs from energy stored in 12 Li-Ion batteries.  Graham is the basic PhoneSat 1.0 model. Graham  Bell is a PhoneSat 1.0 model with an Iridium transceiver mounted at one end. Bell  The basic mission goal of PhoneSat 1.0 was to stay alive in space for a short period of time, sending back digital imagery of Earth and space via its camera, while also sending back information about the satellite's health. Beyond Night Sky

 PhoneSat 2.0 is built with a Nexus S smartphone (Samsung), running the Android operating system.Nexus SSamsung  There is a two-way S-band radio added by engineers to communicate with Earth.S-band  4 Li-Ion batteries, solar panels to recharge the batteries.Li-Ion  A GPS receiver.  To control satellite orientation, several magnetorquer coils and reaction wheels were added. magnetorquer  Alexander is also known as PhoneSat 2.0 Beta or PhoneSat v2a. Alexander Beyond Night Sky

 PhoneSat 2.4 is similar to that of 1 st three versions. But this will be at a higher altitude.  Stay in space for a couple of years before reentering.  So we’ll be able to start collecting data on the radiation effects on the satellite and see if we run into anything that causes problems. Beyond Night Sky

 PhoneSat 2.5 has three primary objectives:  Determine if a low-cost commercially available attitude determination and control system (ADCS) can work adequately in space.  Verify if Google’s Android processor can support space-based communications systems.  Expected orbital life-time is up to 6 weeks Beyond Night Sky

 Weight of satellites is maximum 2kg.Cost for development is maximum of 7000USD.  Lifetime of PhoneSATs 1.0, modified1.0, 2.0beta is 10 days.They live on the phone’s battery for 3 days and on the solar panels for 7 days.As mentioned before they get burnt up due to heavy orbital decay after its lifetime.  Orbital lifetime of phoneSAT 2.4 is expected to be one year. Beyond Night Sky