Students on the ALL-STAR team in the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, working in cooperation with Lockheed Martin aspire to develop a low-cost 3U CubeSat bus capable of supporting the 1 year on-orbit operation of a variety of space-based research payloads that can be configured and ready for flight in 6 months through a simplified payload hardware and software interface.

The 3U Cubesat bus will be reproducible by conforming to a standard ALL-STAR interface and integration and CubeSat structure while allowing the versatility necessary for a variety of small payloads.  The satellite will consist of fully functional subsystems operating off the same amount of power as to that of a night light, designed to support one year on-orbit operations, and measure 10cm by 10cm by 30cm, weighing nearly 4 kilograms (8.8 lbs).

Such a program leads the way for many similar CubeSat projects in the future of COSGC which will evolve to other future missions.

 

Go to top