Ancillary Scientific Instrument Attachment (ASIA): A Distributed Hitchhiker Payload Carrier
| dc.contributor.author | Scheid, Robert Jon | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Black, Jonathan T. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Bailey, Scott M. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Baker, Joseph B. H. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Earle, Gregory D. | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Aerospace and Ocean Engineering | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-05-19T08:00:39Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2018-05-19T08:00:39Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-05-18 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | As more spacecraft reach more locations in the solar system, and with increasing residual capability of those spacecraft, an opportunity exists to improve scientific return at low cost to the satellite operator and minimal effect on its primary mission, regardless of the nature of that mission. The practicality of permanently attaching a small, mass-produced, non-deployable hitchhiker payload to modern spacecraft buses is investigated, and a case study of one such payload is presented. The Ancillary Scientific Instrument Attachment (ASIA) is a modified CubeSat bus that can be mass produced, independently tested, and delivered to spacecraft manufacturers with the design, analysis, integration, test, and software development already complete. All it requires are single-string power and data connections, and a location to mount the bus structure. The unit includes power regulation; data collection and storage; command processing; thermal control; and structural support. As many as five small scientific instruments can be included, all of which increase scientific value of the host spacecraft's primary mission without significantly interfering with that mission. Generally, ASIA would operate independently, with a minimum of interaction from the host spacecraft operations team; only routine data dumps for scientific return need be executed. Scientific data processing, distribution, and bus subsystem troubleshooting are offloaded to an independent facility. One possible scientific instrument loadout is described, designed to collect data about the space environment at any location in the solar system. Recommended forward steps for designing, testing, demonstrating, and implementing such a space-based system and its ground elements are presented. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | Modern spacecraft (“buses”) are designed to provide basic services for one or more primary payloads. These services include electrical power, orientation control and orbit maintenance, radio communication with control centers and end-users on the ground, and structure to support the payload during launch. Spacecraft buses are often Commercial-Off-The-Shelf, built to include flexibility to support a wide variety of different payloads without extensive modification. The proposed Ancillary Scientific Instrument Attachment (ASIA) is a small, self-contained module that includes a variety of small, low-cost sensors. The unit can be mass-produced, independently assembled, and delivered to a spacecraft vendor as a low-priority, simple way to increase the scientific benefit of nearly any spacecraft that launches. It is a “hitchhiker” payload, acting as a self-contained add-on unit that, unlike CubeSats, is not deployed or released once in orbit; instead, it remains connected to the host spacecraft and relies on that spacecraft for power, radio, and attitude control services. All the unit requires are power and data connections from the host spacecraft, both of which are generally abundant on modern bus designs, and a location to mount it. Because of its low cost, ASIA units can be launched on multiple satellites to distribute development and operational costs while allowing for many measurements to be taken at different parts of Earth orbit simultaneously. A ground computer system will receive, process, and distribute the scientific results of the distributed units to the scientific community. The basic organization and technical characteristics of this concept are presented, including functions of the space unit, the corresponding ground system, and an example instrument loadout for sensing characteristics of the space environment throughout the solar system. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:15457 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83365 | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | hosted | en |
| dc.subject | space | en |
| dc.subject | science | en |
| dc.subject | payload | en |
| dc.title | Ancillary Scientific Instrument Attachment (ASIA): A Distributed Hitchhiker Payload Carrier | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Aerospace Engineering | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
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