i-INSPIRE Tube-Satellite Bus Design

Size Xiao
School of AMME,USYD

Xiaofeng Wu
School of AMME,USYD

Xueliang Bai
School of AMME,USYD

Iver Cairns
School of Physics,USYD

Joss Bland-Hawthorn
School of Physics,USYD

Jiro Funamoto
School of AMME,USYD

Anthony Monger
School of Physics,USYD

Lisa Fogarty
School of Physics,USYD

Sergio Leon-Saval
School of Physics,USYD

Chris Betters
School of Physics,USYD

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     Last modified: July 29, 2011

Abstract
i-INSPIRE (initial-INtegrated SPectrograph, Imager and Radiation Explorer)is a collaborative project of School of Aerospace, Mechanical andMechatronic Engineering and the School of Physics within the University ofSydney. It aims to verify the ability of a 1 kg tube-satellite tocarry advanced space and astronomical payloads (a radiation counter,photonic sprectrograph, and a CMOS imager). As the first nanoSat to befully constructed by one Australian university and to be launched intospace, the i-INSPIRE project will be a prototype for future morecomplex nano-satellite platforms. The satellite platform distributes thepower, communication and control subsystems into three individual PCBboards, respectively. Observational data from payloads will be collectedand stored in external memory, which is connected to the microcontrollerby an SPI interface. A FM transceiver, the main part of communicationsubsystem, will work in the UHF band and initially be in receivingmode. After obtaining a confirmation signal from the groundstation, the microcontroller will transmit house-keeping and payloaddata to the ground station at the University of Sydney. The additionof a nano IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is being considered todetermine the current attitude of i-INSPIRE, in order to complementand confirm the pointing inferred from the imaging camera.