PocketQube

PocketQube
	Alba Orbital Satellite
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	250g
Dimensions	5 × 5 × 5 cm (1p)

A PocketQube is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a size of 5 cm cubed (one eighth the volume of a CubeSat), has a mass of no more than 250 grams, and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf components for its electronics.

Beginning in 2009,[1] Morehead State University (MSU) and Kentucky Space developed the PocketQube specifications to help universities worldwide to perform space science and exploration. While the bulk of development comes from academia, several companies build PocketQubes, such as Fossa Systems and Alba Orbital.[2] PocketQube projects have even been the subject of Kickstarter campaigns.[3][4] The PocketQube format is also popular with amateur radio satellite builders.[5]

Design

The PocketQube specification accomplishes several high-level goals. Simplification makes it possible to design and produce a workable satellite at low cost. Encapsulation of the launcher-payload interface takes away the prohibitive amount of managerial work previously required for mating a piggyback satellite with its launcher. Unification among payloads and launchers enables quick exchanges of payloads and utilization of launch opportunities on short notice. PocketQube is similar to CubeSat in this regard.

The standard was first proposed by Professor Bob Twiggs of Morehead State University, and the intention was for a satellite which could fit in a pocket, hence the name PocketQube.

History

First proposed in 2009 as a solution to the increasing costs of CubeSat launches to low Earth orbit. There have been 11 PocketQubes launched as of end of 2019.

Workshops

The first US workshop was held at NASA Ames and at Cape Canaveral in April 2014. There was a three-year gap until the next PocketQube workshop was held at TU Delft in The Netherlands in March 2017. The third workshop took place also at TU Delft on March 2018, with 22 presentations and 70 attendees. This is now an annual event for the PocketQube development community.

Launched

Listed in ascending order by launch date.

Name	Type	Organisation	Mission	Launch Date (UTC)	Rocket	COSPAR ID	Status	Broker	Decay date	Launch Number
T-LogoQube (Beakersat-1, MagPocketQube, Eagle-1)	2.5P	Morehead State University, Sonoma State University	Teaching Tool	2013-11-21, 07:11	Dnepr	2013-066X	Success No longer in Orbit	GAUSS	Decay: 2019-02-13[6]	1
$50Sat (Eagle-2)	1.5p	Amateur Group	Amateur Mission	2013-11-21, 07:11	Dnepr	2013-066W	Success Contact lost: 2015-07-19[7]	GAUSS	Decay: 2018-05-18[8]
QubeScout-S1	2.5p	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Sensor/dynamic attitude experiments	2013-11-21, 07:11	Dnepr	2013-066AD	In orbit Inactive[9]	GAUSS
WREN	1p	Stadoko UG	Tech demo, Camera SSTV, 3 Axis Reaction Wheel and pp Thrusters	2013-11-21, 07:11	Dnepr	2013-066V	In orbit Inactive, N/C[10]	GAUSS
SMOG-P	1p	Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary	Measurement of the radio spectrum in the UHF TV band	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084J	In orbit / Active	Alba Orbital		2
ATL-1	2p	Advanced Technology of Laser	Test a new thermal isolation material in space	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084H	In orbit / Active	Alba Orbital
FossaSat-1	1p	Fossa Systems	LoRa Demonstration & Deployable solar panels.	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084F	In orbit / Active	Alba Orbital
Noor 1a (Unicorn-2b)	3p	Stara Space	Experimental	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084D	In orbit Unconfirmed	Alba Orbital
Noor 1b (Unicorn-2c)	3p	Stara Space	Experimental	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084E	Success No longer in Orbit[11]	Alba Orbital	Decay: 2020-04-07[12]
TRSI	1p	ACME AtronOmatic, LLC (MyRadar)	Amateur, testing novel receiver	2019-12-6 08:18	Electron	2019-084G	In orbit Unconfirmed	Alba Orbital

List of Suborbital PocketQubes
Name	Type	Organisation	Mission	Launch Date (UTC)	Rocket	Status/Outcome	Launch Number
TQube	1p	Amateur Group	Insulation testing and recording of structural dynamics	2019-10-11 18:37	Neutron	Success	1

In development

Name	Type	Organisation	Mission	Launch Date (UTC)	Rocket	Broker	Status	Remarks
OzQube-1	1p	Picosat Systems	Earth Observation	TBC	TBC	TBC	In development	Team Interview
ARDUIQUBE/DIY-1	1p	DIYSATELLITE Argentina	Technology Demonstrator	Q3 2020	Soyuz	GAUSS	In development	Team Interview www.diysatellite.com/arduiqube.html
ArduOrbiter-1	1p	Reid Technologies	TBC	TBC	TBC	N/A		https://www.reidtech.global/
Discovery 1a	1p	Mini-Cubes, LLC	Camera / Photo Sat	TBC	Electron	Alba Orbital	In development	Windform XT based PocketQube testing of the shelf components for space use
Unicorn-1	2p	Alba Orbital	LEO > GEO Relay Demonstrator	Q3 2020	Soyuz	GAUSS	In development	Satellite Webpage
UoMBSat1	1p	University of Malta + University of Birmingham	Technology Demonstrator + Ionospheric Sounder	TBC	TBC	TBC	In development	ASTREA Website @ UoM SERENE Website @ UoB
Delfi-PQ	3p	Delft University of Technology	Technology Demonstrator	TBC	Vector-R	Alba Orbital Cluster 1	In development	Delfi Space; due to financial problems with Vector Launch, the launch of this satellite is uncertain.
Unicorn-2a	3p	Alba Orbital	Technology Demonstrator	TBC	Vector-R	Alba Orbital Cluster 1	In development	Alba Orbital; due to financial problems with Vector Launch, the launch of this satellite is uncertain.
EASAT-2	2p	Amsat EA	Amateur Mission	TBC	TBC	TBC	In development	https://web.archive.org/web/20180515183712/https://www.amsat-ea.org/easat-2/
SATLLA	2p	Ariel University	Testing a laser communication link	TBC	TBC	TBC	In development
APRS PocketQube	1p	National Chiao-Tung University	APRS PocketQube for Moving Objects Tracking	TBC	TBC	TBC	In development
Nepal-PQ1	1p	ORION Space	Education	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	http://www.myrepublica.com/news/21899/
TBA	1p	Croatian Makers	STEM	TBC	TBC	Alba Orbital Cluster 3	In Development	http://croatianmakers.hr/hr/project/prvi-hrvatski-satelit/
UBO	1p	Satellite Applications Catapult	Outreach	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	http://buildubo.co.uk/build/
Myansat-1	1p	Independent	Outreach	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	https://web.archive.org/web/20190115020853/http://myansat.com/
TFTQube	1p	The Flame Trench	Amateur	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	https://theflametrench.com/flagship/
TBC	TBC	University of Zacatecas	STEM	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	https://www.researchgate.net/project/Design-and-Implementation-of-a-PocketQube-system-for-educative-purposes
grizuSAT (Project X)	1p	Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University	Education	Mid 2020	TBC	Alba Orbital Cluster 3	In Development	https://x.grizu-263.space/
LibertyQube-1	1p	Liberty Life LLc	Experimental	Mid 20	TBC	Alba Cluster 3	In Development	https://www.libertylife-llc.com/
SatDuino	1p	Technical School N° 5 of Mar Del Plata	Education	TBC	TBC	TBC	In Development	https://satduinot5t1.wixsite.com/satduino
GENESIS N/L	2p	AMSAT-EA	Amateur	Mid 2020	Firefly Alpha	PicoBus 1 FOSSA / LIBRESPACE	In Development
QUBIK 1/2	1p	Libre Space Foundation	Education	Mid 2020	Firefly Alpha	PicoBus 1 FOSSA / LIBRESPACE	In Development
FOSSASAT-1B	1P	Fossa Systems	IoT Comms	Mid 2020	Firefly Alpha	PicoBus 1 FOSSA / LIBRESPACE	In Development	https://fossa.systems
FOSSASAT-2	2p	Fossa Systems	IoT Comms / ADCS / EO	Mid 2020	Firefly Alpha	PicoBus 1 FOSSA / LIBRESPACE	In Development	https://fossa.systems
BYqube-1	1p	Brigham Young University	Education	Feb 2021	TBC	TBC	In Development
Pycubed-1	1p	Stanford University	Education	Late 2020	Tbc	Alba Cluster 3	In Development
Hades	1.5p	Amsat-ea		Late 2020	Tbc	Alba Cluster 3	In Development
Trsi-2	1p	Acme		Late 2020	Tbc	Alba Cluster 3	In Development

Suborbital PocketQube's In Development
Name	Type	Picture	Organisation	Mission	Launch Date (UTC)	Rocket	Status	Remarks
Astria	1p		British Columbia Institute of Technology	Test structural feasibility at 30,000 feet for new design	TBC	University of British Columbia's Second Rocket (under production)	In Development

PocketQube vs PocketQub

The PocketQube standard originally started as PocketQub.[13] This was changed in 2012 by Professor Bob Twiggs of Morehead State University. The standard is now referred to as PocketQube.

Launch

As of December 2019, the only launch brokers capable of providing launch integration for PocketQube satellites are Fossa Systems, Libre Space Foundation, Alba Orbital, KSF Space and GAUSS Srl.

References

Twiggs, Bob. "Making it small" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
Alba Orbital
"Kickstarter". Retrieved 1 October 2013.
"Kickstarter, Wired UK". Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
"AMSAT UK". Retrieved 22 November 2013.
"Technical details for satellite BEAKERSAT 1". N2YO.com - Real Time Satellite Tracking and Predictions. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
"$50SAT - Eagle2 - $50SAT - Eagle2". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
"SATVIEW - EAGLE 2 - Norad 39436U - Tracking satellites and Spacejunk in Real time". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
"QubeScout Press Release". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
"Wren". AMSAT-UK. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
http://www.albaorbital.com/new-blog/2020/4/10/unicorn-2c-noor-1b-success-on-orbit
"NOOR 1B - NORAD 44828 - 3D Online Satellite Tracking". www.satflare.com. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
"Standard". Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Twiggs, Bob. "Making it small" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2013.

[2] Alba Orbital

[3] "Kickstarter". Retrieved 1 October 2013.

[4] "Kickstarter, Wired UK". Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.

[5] "AMSAT UK". Retrieved 22 November 2013.

[6] "Technical details for satellite BEAKERSAT 1". N2YO.com - Real Time Satellite Tracking and Predictions. Retrieved 2019-12-19.

[7] "$50SAT - Eagle2 - $50SAT - Eagle2". Retrieved 23 May 2018.

[8] "SATVIEW - EAGLE 2 - Norad 39436U - Tracking satellites and Spacejunk in Real time". Retrieved 23 May 2018.

[9] "QubeScout Press Release". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

[10] "Wren". AMSAT-UK. Retrieved 2019-12-26.

[11] ttp://www.albaorbital.com/new-blog/2020/4/10/unicorn-2c-noor-1b-success-on-orbit

[12] "NOOR 1B - NORAD 44828 - 3D Online Satellite Tracking". www.satflare.com. Retrieved 2020-04-11.

[13] "Standard". Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2013.