INSPIRESAT-4/ARCADE : a VLEO mission for atmospheric temperature measurements and ionospheric plasma characterization

• Main Authors: Srivastava, Sarthak, Anant Kumar Telikicherla Kandala, Gacal, Glenn Franco
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering; Satellite; Very Low Earth Orbit
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/2019/all2019/140/; https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148434
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Most nano-satellite and small satellite missions are designed for 400 km or higher altitudes. This is because small satellites, with mass, volume and power constraints, have limited propulsion capabilities to counteract the high aerodynamic drag in lower altitudes. Thus little or no science data has been gathered in-situ in the altitude range of 200 to 300 km by small satellite missions. INSPIRESat-4 (IS4) Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer (ARCADE) is a ring-deployed 27U spacecraft that aims to bridge this gap by achieving a sustained flight in the VLEO (Very Low Earth Orbit) region to make in-situ Ionospheric plasma measurements. This paper first describes the science motivation of the mission. INSPIRESat-4 carries three payloads which are AtmoLITE (a Spatial Heterodyne Interferometer for upper-atmosphere temperature measurements), CIP (Compact Ionospheric Probe) for in-situ plasma measurements and an RGB Imager for high resolution imagery from VLEO. In this paper, the mission design for the VLEO mission is described in detail including analysis conducted for orbital lifetime prediction, attitude maneuvers and power generation. The paper concludes with a brief overview of the various subsystems including Command & Data Handling (C&DH) system , Electrical Power System (EPS), Flight Software (FSW), Communication system and Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS).