Paper Category: Engineering
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Towards an open source, systems-level mission planning and analysis tool
The traditional systems engineering workflow requires synthesis of subsystem design information into technical budgets, performance simulations, and other metrics of mission credibility and value. Projects often use a diverse mixture of spreadsheet calculators and custom and commercial simulation software to draw mission-level conclusions from subsystem-level design information and requirements. This approach suffers from two inefficiencies.…
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AI-Based Navigation for Lunar Satellites in VLLO
This paper presents the design and preliminary validation of the Lunar Intelligent Navigation via Neural Architecture (LINNA) payload, a technology demonstration integrated into the SelenITA mission—Brazil’s first lunar CubeSat. The experiment is motivated by the future needs for autonomous state estimation in the Very Low Lunar Orbit (VLLO) regime, where Mascon-induced gravitational anomalies challenge traditional…
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A Modular Open-Source ADCS Framework for Small Satellite Development and Testing
Advanced attitude determination and control (ADCS) techniques are often difficult for small satellite teams to adopt due to tightly coupled implementations and the need to rapidly evaluate alternative architectures. Evaluating prospective ADCS options may require significant modification of existing code for specific actuator combinations, sensor hardware, orbits, mission goals, and control laws. Existing options are…
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A Distributed Data Center in Space (DCiS) Architecture for Small Satellites
Space-based data processing has emerged as a critical need for modern satellite missions in Earth observation, communications, and defense. We present DCiS (Data Center in Space), a distributed micro-data-center architecture optimized for SmallSat-class spacecraft. By deploying many small computing nodes across an orbital constellation and interconnecting them via high-speed links, DCiS enables cloud-like computing capabilities…
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Embedding Machine-Learned Anomaly Detection into Relevance-Driven Mission Operations Workflows
Anomaly detection has become a central application of machine learning in satellite operations; however, when applied in isolation, machine learning based detections alone are insufficient to support scalable mission operations. As fleets grow, operators face increasing cognitive load not from anomaly frequency, but from the need to interpret weak signals, correlate them with operational context,…
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Deriving Mission-Specific Radiation Test Fluence Targets from Orbital Survivability Requirements
Standard radiation hardness assurance methodologies prescribe fixed heavy-ion test fluences, typically 10^7 ions/cm2, to screen for Destructive Single Event Effects (DSEE). This paper examines the statistical and physical foundations behind this number. We show that a radiation test is a sequence of Bernoulli trials whose aggregate behaviour is described by the Poisson distribution, establishing a…
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Operational Implications of Dynamic Power Throttling on High-Performance LEO Edge Computing
The integration of high-performance COTS (Customer Of The Shelf) processors, such as the Nvidia Jetson Orin NX, into SmallSat architectures enables advanced on-orbit edge computing but introduces significant power management challenges. Standard manufacturer power profiles typically require system reboots and lack the granularity needed to respond to dynamic LEO (Low Earth Orbit) energy constraints, such…
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Thermal Data Interoperability for Small Satellite Missions: Integrating CAD, ETMS, and STEP-TAS
The rapid development cycles of small satellite missions require the transition from isolated engineering practices to a continuous, concurrent or model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach. A significant bottleneck remains in thermal engineering, where the manual translation of mechanical designs into thermal models- and the exchange of thermal models between different software environments – often leads…
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Low SWaP Flight Board for High-Speed On-Board Data Handling, Processing and AI Inference
The continuous increase in payload data volume and mission autonomy requirements is driving the need for increasingly advanced on-board data handling and processing technologies in satellite systems. In particular, next-generation Earth observation, telecommunications, and distributed space architectures require high-performance processing capabilities to enable real-time data reduction, intelligent decision-making, and efficient use of downlink resources. Within…
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Comparative Analysis of ST-100 and ST-100M Hall Thruster Prototypes for Mission-Specific Applications
This study provides a comparative assessment of the ST-100 Hall-effect thruster and its magnetically shielded counterpart, the ST-100M, designed to enhance longevity by minimizing channel wall erosion. Erosion of dielectric channel walls remains a critical limitation for thruster operational life. The ST-100M incorporates an optimized magnetic topology, developed using ANSYS Maxwell simulations, to deflect ion…