CubeSat

CubeSat Mission Statement:

The IrishSat CubeSat team’s mission is to apply for, design, develop and launch a CubeSat through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. This satellite will hold a Notre Dame professor’s research project onboard which will advance NASA’s research towards their critical objectives.

Where We’ve Been:

The CubeSat team started on IrishSat as the ProtoSat team which developed a mock-up of the CubeSat using 3-D printing and general commercial components. These experiences and prototypes taught the team about effective prototyping, utilizing control algorithms, and interfacing hardware with electronics and software. These lessons have launched the current IrishSat team into our current CubeSat development.

ProtoSat V2 Reaction Wheel Test

ProtoSat V1 Attitude Control Test

2023 Senior Design board flight computer KiCad model

Our 2023 Senior Design Team testing their prototype flight computer

Burn wire solar panel deployment test

Where We’re Going:

This next year we have big plans for our CubeSat progress. We are going to work on a multi-faceted approach towards our goal of launching a CubeSat through CSLI. Our CSLI proposal to the NASA offices thoroughly explains how our research payload provides both a educational for students and technological benefit for advancing communications technology. Currently, we are developing a FlatSat where we will have all of the flight hardware to run tests on, develop software for, and check communications with our Ground Station. Finally, we are testing our Attitude Determination and Control system using an in-house developed testing environment build by the GOAT Lab team.