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

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.