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The Experimental Albertan Satellite #1 (Ex-Alta 1) Cube-Satellite Mission

Space Science Reviews volume 216, Article number: 96 (2020) Cite this article

Abstract

The Experimental Albertan satellite #1 (Ex-Alta 1) was a three-unit cube satellite (CubeSat) developed at the University of Alberta (UAlberta). As the first ‘made in Alberta’ spacecraft, the Ex-Alta 1 CubeSat was the Canadian contribution to the international QB50 CubeSat constellation mission (www.qb50.eu). Ex-Alta 1’s mission incorporated four science objectives, two technical objectives, and one educational outreach objective. These are reviewed in the context of the Ex-Alta 1 mission design, as well as future CubeSat constellation missions that may follow demonstration missions such as Ex-Alta 1 and the experiences of the QB50 project. In support of its objectives, Ex-Alta 1 flew the multi-needle Langmuir probe (m-NLP) QB50 standardized payload, a UAlberta developed miniaturized digital fluxgate magnetometer (DFGM) mounted on a two-element articulated deployable boom, a radiation dosimeter from Teledyne, and an open source onboard computer (OBC) developed at UAlberta. Ex-Alta 1 was released by a NanoRacks deployer from the International Space Station on May 26, 2017, and commanded and controlled from a ground-station developed and operated at UAlberta. Ex-Alta 1 operated continuously throughout its mission until it burned up in the atmosphere on November 14, 2018. The last two-way contact occurred on that day at 07:49:29 UTC, when the spacecraft reported an onboard temperature of 47 °C in eclipse at an altitude of 152 km and which marked the effective end of the mission. This paper provides an overview of the Ex-Alta 1 mission, its development, the spacecraft and mission design, and reports preliminary results from the payload focusing on the DFGM instrument. We also report briefly on related education and outreach activities, including the development and delivery of curriculum-targeted and CubeSat focused classroom sessions inspired by the Ex-Alta 1 mission to school pupils in Alberta.

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Acknowledgements

The Canadian Space Agency supported work on the project through grants 13STFAAB17 and 14SSTQB50. D. M. Miles was supported by an NSERC PGSD graduate scholarship, the Canadian Space Agency, and subsequently new faculty start-up funding from the University of Iowa. Discovery Grants from Canadian NSERC supported I. R. Mann and D. G. Elliott. Ex-Alta 1 was made possible by financial support from the University of Alberta Faculties of Science and Engineering, CMC Microsystems, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and crowd-funding via (https://ualberta.useed.net). The project also acknowledges the generous donation of the GPS receiver to the Ex-Alta 1 mission by Novatel. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 284427. The authors thank VKI and other members of the QB50 team for support, J. T. (Mitch) Mitchell for advice concerning the ground station, and Northern Alberta Radio Club for generous financial support. Many, many hours of student volunteer time and a series of undergraduate Capstone projects at UAlberta also contributed to the successful implementation of the Ex-Alta 1 mission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    I. R. Mann, C. D. A. Nokes, C. Cupido, D. M. Miles, B. Bruner, D. Barona, S. Damkjar, M. Fleischauer, D. K. Milling, A. Kale, A. Hamilton, K. Cote & T. Robertson

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    D. M. Miles

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    B. Bruner, D. G. Elliott, S. Damkjar, L. Wyard-Scott, J. Grey, T. Robertson, D. Van Paridon & R. Fedosejevs

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    C. F. Lange, D. Sameoto, C. Robson, C. Lissinna, K. Ball, E. Austen, T. Hrynyk, D. Nault, D. Raboud & J. P. Carey

  5. Nanotechnology Research Centre, the National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    M. Fleischauer

  6. Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    R. E. Ferrari

  7. Department of Elementary Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    G. Yi & A. Roy

  8. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    A. J. Hansen

  9. Department of Physics, The University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    T. A. Bekkeng & E. Trondsen

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  1. I. R. Mann
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Multi-Point Measurements of the Thermosphere with the QB50 Mission

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Mann, I.R., Nokes, C.D.A., Cupido, C. et al. The Experimental Albertan Satellite #1 (Ex-Alta 1) Cube-Satellite Mission. Space Sci Rev 216, 96 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00720-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00720-8

Keywords

  • Cube satellites
  • CubeSat
  • Space weather
  • Magnetometry
  • Nanosatellites