TY - JOUR
T1 - A complete mission concept design and analysis of the student-led cubesat project
T2 - Light-1
AU - Almazrouei, Aaesha
AU - Khan, Aaliya
AU - Almesmari, Abdullah
AU - Albuainain, Ahmed
AU - Bushlaibi, Ahmed
AU - Al Mahmood, Ali
AU - Alqaraan, Ali
AU - Alhammadi, Alya
AU - Albalooshi, Amina
AU - Khater, Ashraf
AU - Alharam, Aysha
AU - Altawil, Basel
AU - Alkhzaimi, Bashayer
AU - Almansoori, Ebrahim
AU - Jarrar, Firas
AU - Issa, Hamzeh
AU - Alblooshi, Heyam
AU - Ansari, Muhammad Taha
AU - Alzaabi, Nouf
AU - Braik, Nouf
AU - Dimitropoulos, Panagiotis
AU - Marpu, Prashanth
AU - Alialali, Reem
AU - Alhammadi, Ruqayya
AU - Al-Haddad, Rzan
AU - Almazrouei, Salama
AU - Bahumaish, Shaima
AU - Thu, Vu
AU - Alqassab, Yaqoob
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the UAE Space Agency, grant number K11-2016-002.
Funding Information:
This student-led project is a collaboration between students at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi and New York University in Abu Dhabi, supported by university students from Bahrain and funded by the UAE Space Agency. While the payload detectors are fully designed, developed, and tested by the students, the majority of the bus components of the satellite are provided by our industry partners, NanoAvionics. Light-1 is expected to be ready for launch by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) at the end of 2021.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGF) are intense and prompt bursts of X-and gamma-rays of up to 100 MeV of energy. Typically associated with thunderstorm activity, TGFs are produced by bremsstrahlung effects of electrons accelerated in strong electric fields generated by lightning. TGFs can be effectively targeted by gamma detectors with enhanced time stamping capabilities onboard of satellites operating at near-Earth low obits (LEO) [1]. Light-1 is a miniature satellite, a 3U CubeSat designed to detect, monitor and study terrestrial gamma ray flashes in low Earth orbit. The two payload detectors are composed of a photomultiplier tube and silicon photomultipliers. The two detectors are mounted at two ends of the CubeSat and the proposed orientation of the CubeSat will ensure maximum TGF detection probability. To allow an increased frequency of data downlink, Khalifa University has collaborated with Nano Avionics Corp, and hence Light-1 has access to three ground stations situated across the map, Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, Vilnius in Lithuania, and Aalborg in Denmark. The satellite expected to launch in late-2021 is currently in its assembly and integration phase. This paper describes mission, concept, objectives, success criteria, design, analysis, status, and the future plans of Light-1 satellite.
AB - Terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGF) are intense and prompt bursts of X-and gamma-rays of up to 100 MeV of energy. Typically associated with thunderstorm activity, TGFs are produced by bremsstrahlung effects of electrons accelerated in strong electric fields generated by lightning. TGFs can be effectively targeted by gamma detectors with enhanced time stamping capabilities onboard of satellites operating at near-Earth low obits (LEO) [1]. Light-1 is a miniature satellite, a 3U CubeSat designed to detect, monitor and study terrestrial gamma ray flashes in low Earth orbit. The two payload detectors are composed of a photomultiplier tube and silicon photomultipliers. The two detectors are mounted at two ends of the CubeSat and the proposed orientation of the CubeSat will ensure maximum TGF detection probability. To allow an increased frequency of data downlink, Khalifa University has collaborated with Nano Avionics Corp, and hence Light-1 has access to three ground stations situated across the map, Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, Vilnius in Lithuania, and Aalborg in Denmark. The satellite expected to launch in late-2021 is currently in its assembly and integration phase. This paper describes mission, concept, objectives, success criteria, design, analysis, status, and the future plans of Light-1 satellite.
KW - 3U CubeSats
KW - CubeSats
KW - Finite element analysis
KW - Mission analysis
KW - Mission concept
KW - Mission design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114744489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/aerospace8090247
DO - 10.3390/aerospace8090247
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85114744489
SN - 2226-4310
VL - 8
JO - Aerospace
JF - Aerospace
IS - 9
M1 - 247
ER -
