Demonstration of the Capability of 1U CubeSat for Measurement of the Energy Spectrum on LEO

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the capability of the 1U CubeSat to study the radiation spectra on LEO. The research was realized by the Lucky-7 mission with the primary goal of testing electronics such as a power supply, piNAV L1 GPS receiver, UHF communication system, and other subsystems in the natural space environment, and the secondary goal of testing the possibility of using 1U CubSat class satellites for scientific tasks. The satellite is equipped with a piNAV GPS receiver and piDOSE radiation detector, silicon diode radiation spectrometer, camera, and other sensors. The on-board computer enables storage of 34 h of measurements of the radiation spectrum. These measurements can be downloaded by the UHF communication system during four satellite passes over the monitoring ground station. We successfully verified all necessary instruments and their cooperation and measurement procedure. The UHF communication was identified as the most critical subsystem because of its low capacity, which slowed down the satellite operation. We needed four zenith passes to upload 34 h of measurement.