Six months ago, on May 26, a poly-satellite "PolyITAN-2-SAU" was launched into the near-Earth orbit. This is already the second nanosatellite, designed and manufactured at the Igor Sikorsky KPI under the guidance of Senior Researcher, Candidate of Technical Science Borys Rassamakin. Unlike the first nanosatellite of our university - "PolyITAN-1", which went into a given orbit an hour after the launch of the carrier rocket, "PolyITAN-2-SAU" launched an independent flight not immediately. Initially, on April 18, the "Atlas V" missile launched at Cape Canaveral (USA) sent the Cygnus CRS OA-7 cargo spacecraft into the near-Earth orbit, with containers containing 28 university satellites from 19 countries. On April 22, the ship joined the International Space Station (ISS). And a month later, from May 24 to 26, a Japanese robot manipulator sent certain satellites from the ISS to their orbits in certain places and at certain times. "PolyITAN-2-SAU" started an independent flight on May 26 at 6 am in Kyiv time.
On occasion of a half-year anniversary of launch, our correspondent interviewed the scientific leader of the QB50 project, Borys Rassamakin, about the nanosatellite flight and its prospectives.
- Our PolyITAN-2-SAU is part of the QB50 project, with headquarter at the von Karman Institute of Hydrodynamics (Belgium). There is also the Data Processing and Archiving Center (DPAC) there.
The project planned to involve 50 university nanosatellites. 36 were taken to the orbit (28 of them - the American carrier "Atlas V" and 8 - Indian rocket carrier PSLV). Why 36, not 50? Because not all universities that planned to manufacture and launch nanosatellites were able to bring these plans to implementation. It should be noted that out of 36 nano-satellites launched in orbit at the beginning of November, only 14 remain in working condition. And the fact that among these 14 there is ours proves the proper level of our team’s work.
The main purpose of nanosatellites belonging to the group QB50 is the study of the Earth's lower thermosphere. The thermosphere is that part of the earth's atmosphere, which extends from a height of 80-90 km to a height of 800 km. The study is scheduled to be conducted at altitudes of 300 km (first experiments) and 200 km (second experiment). In addition, in accordance with orders from orginazors, special experiments will be held at lower altitudes - up to 90 kilometers.
A regular satellite at such altitudes will not last long. Due to large dimensions in a few months, it will fall below 90 km and burn in dense atmospheric layers. Nano satellites of the CubeSat standard (weighing from 1 to 10 kg) are miniature (our, for example, weighs only 1,964 kg), so it's possible for them to perform tasks in low orbits for a long time.
Now "PolyITAN-2-SAU" is located 382 kilometers away from the Earth's surface, the height of its flight gradually decreases. We believe that it will work for about two years.
- How much time did it take to create this nanosatellite?
- Its development began in 2012. We then applied to the European Space Agency for participation in the QB50 study of the thermosphere with the help of university nanosatellites. Working groups from more than 70 higher educational establishments from different countries of the world expressed their desire to participate. We have successfully completed all stages of selection. For the QB50 project, we did almost everything ourselves: we developed and assembled the device, tested it autonomously and comprehensively, conducted the reception and delivery dynamic and thermo-vacuum tests, and wrote computer programs for it. We also designed and made from carbon fiber panels of solar batteries installed on a nanosatellite. Also, we have put on it sensors of the Sun, with the help of which you can determine the position of the device in orbit. Then, we established domestic GPS / GLONASS receivers (developer LLC "Navis-Ukraine"), for which we have created special software. Acceptance and delivery thermo-vacuum tests of the nano-satellite were carried out in a thermo-vacuum chamber, which is located at the Faculty of heat power engineering. The camera simulates the conditions of space - a vacuum, a low temperature (minus 194 degrees Celsius), external influences of the Sun and Earth.
Forty percent of the cost for the creation of PolyITAN-2-SAU was provided by our investors - the Chinese Aerospace University and the Kalinin invention fund (Ukraine). Also, our sponsors are Boeing Ukraine and Diona Ltd.
Let me emphasize that PolyITAN-2-SAU became our second nanosatellite lanched to space. The first - PolyITAN-1 –with the weight of 1080 grams was launched in June 2014, and we are still getting signals from it. We are currently working on the third, fourth and fifth.
On the roof of the university building number 5 there is a complex for communication with nanosatellites. In the laboratory of the heat pipes there is a space communication center.
- What did you do after launching "PolyITAN-2-SAU" into orbit, and what future experiments have you planned?
- Approximately 10 weeks have been devoted to putting into operation, in agreement with the Institute of von Karman, the electronic platform of the nano-satellite "PolyITAN-2-SAU" and a sensor from the sensory unit - the mass spectrometer of the space plasma stream FIPEX (it was manufactured at the Technical University of Dresden ( Germany).
The entire scientific program QB50 is divided into two separate phases of the collection of scientific information. The first phase of research will begin after the grouping of nanoblocks QB50 (or at least 80% of the existing ones) will reach 300-kilometer altitude. The calculations show that this will happen 10 months after deployment from the ISS. Next we have to work with the FIPEX sensor for 60 days every other day. During the breaks, we can explore other useful loads - Sun sensors, flywheel, GPS receiver / Glonass, software, etc.
After that, the project will be put on hold for several months to wait until 50% of the active CubeSats reach 200-kilometer altitude. During this second phase, CubeSats must again receive FIPEX data for 60 days every other day.
There are also three different special types of experiments planned: Syncro, Target, and HighFreq.
Syncro is a synchronous thermosensory analysis experiment. Its results will help not only get a detailed overview of the long-wave phenomena in the thermosphere, but also to obtain a large number of measurements in certain layers of the atmosphere.
HighFreq - experiments on atmospheric fluctuation with the help of sensors with the highest possible frequency of the survey (High Frequency Analysis-HighFreq).
Target - sensor calibration during the flight. This must be done because of the high volatility of the thermosphere in time.
In order to facilitate the coordination of scientific operations, QB50 headquarters is being set up, which will forward operational scenarios to the teams in charge of the nanosatellites work. Teams will receive 7 scenarios a week before the start of measurements and will have to download scripts on their CubeSats. The received data will be transmitted to the Data Processing and Archiving Center.
The development of the subsystems of the nanotube "PolyITAN-2-SAU" and the study of the impact on their environment still continue. All tests up to the present day were satisfactory. Therefore, taking into account the results of the tests of our first nanosatellite, it can be stated that the PolyITAN-2-SAU nanosatellite is a highly efficient electronic platform for space tests.