The INSPIRE-2 CubeSat for the QB50 Project

Abstract

The 2-unit CubeSat INSPIRE-2/AU03 was designed, built, tested, delivered, and accepted by the European Union’s QB50 project in less than 10 months and for less than US$120,000 in non-salary outlays including launch, despite being a first satellite. It carried 5 instruments (a multi-Needle Langmuir Probe, a diffraction-limited spectrograph, an advanced GPS receiver, and 2 radiation detectors) and the satellite hardware included both Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and Australian components. INSPIRE-2 was deployed into space from the International Space Station by Nanoracks on 26 May 2017 following an Atlas V launch. The satellite was brought online a month after launch as a result of a major campaign with the international radio amateur community. The uplink function of the Communications board was badly damaged in July 2017 in the first of that year’s two major, extended, space weather periods, plausibly due to radiation damage. While INSPIRE-2’s radio beacons were resurrected and continued for over a year the Communications board’s handshaking protocols meant that downlinking of data was not possible. INSPIRE-2 lived for over a year in space with mostly functioning systems. This paper summarises the major firsts and importance of INSPIRE-2 and its fellow Australian QB50 CubeSats UNSW-EC0 and SuSat (e.g., the first Australian CubeSats and the first Australian-built satellites in 16 years), as well as the science and technical goals, instruments, spacecraft systems, recovery, initial data, and evidence that the major space weather events of 12 July - 4 August 2017 significantly damaged INSPIRE-2 and caused an outage from 26 July to 5 September 2017. It also discusses the lessons learned and the reasons why CubeSats in constellations like QB50, whether international or Australian, provide excellent opportunities for scientific, technical, and commercial development, public outreach and engagement, and international engagement.