Vermont Technical College
The goal of the project is to develop the prototype technologies for a triple CubeSat that will be self propelled (chemical rockets, or ion drive) from a geosynchronous (communications satellite) launch to the moon. The chemical rocket would have a lunar lander, and the ion drive spacecraft would go into lunar orbit. The single CubeSat for the launch opportunity will test the navigation system and use NASA’s GPS Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS) software, a space qualified GPS receiver and a star tracker camera (being built a Norwich University). It will have an onboard computer system, solar power supply and radio transceiver to communicate with our ground station at Vermont Tech.
NASA-Catalog: 39407
Beacon
437.305 MHz, 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 60 second interval
Call
W1VTC
Status
inactive
Orbital Parameter
NORAD 39407 COSPAR designator 2013-064-AD Inclination 40.531 RA of A. Node 50.624 Eccentricity 0.0006954 Argument of Perigee 245.457 Revs per day 15.24306759 Period 1h 34m 28s (94.47 min) Semi-major axis 6 871 km Perigee x Apogee 488 x 498 km BStar (drag term) 0.000968550 1/ER Mean anomaly 114.546
Audio
9k6 beacon packet
Mission
Vermont Lunar Cube’s primary mission is to make navigation estimates for a future moon project, in which another cube satellite will orbit the moon. But it’s also a prototype project to show that it’s possible to explore space on a budget.
- Carbon fiber composite for structural components (including fold out photovoltaic panels)
- Pumpkin CubeSat Kit CPU board
- Texas Instrument MSP430 CPU
- Spectrolab TASC 27% efficient triple junction photovoltaic cells
- ClydeSpace Electrical Power System with Li-Polymer batteries3axis magnetometer, Sun,- Earth and Moon sensor for attitude determination
- different thruster (chemical) and gimbaled ion thruster for attitude control
Telemetry
from W1VTC2 to W1VTC: 1 > 56 65 72 6D 6F 6E 74 4C 75 6E 61 72 00 00 01 0D 01 29 03 5E 21 > 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 41 > 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 VermontLunar.....).^.................................... from W1VTC2 to W1VTC: 1 > 56 65 72 6D 6F 6E 74 4C 75 6E 61 72 00 00 01 0D 02 2A 01 02 21 > 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 41 > 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 VermontLunar.....*......................................
26.11.2014