CANADIAN ADVANCED NANOPSPACE EXPERIMENT 2: SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION ON A THREE-KILOGRAM SATELLITE

摘要

The Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) is developing its second nanosatellite, the Canadian Advanced Nanospace experiment 2 (CanX-2) as a part of the CanX program. The objective of the CanX program is to produce highly capable nanospacecraft, each within a two-year period, i.e the time it takes to complete a graduate degree. CanX missions offer extremely low cost and rapid access to space for scientists and commercial exploitation. CanX-2, which is compatible with the Stanford University and California Polytechnic State University "CubeSat" standard, is a "triple CubeSat" with dimensions measuring 10 x 10 x 34 cm and a mass of 3.5 Kg. This nanosatellite features an ambitious suite of scientific and engineering payloads, and enlarges the envelope of capability for this class of spacecraft. The primary mission of CanX-2 is to test and demonstrate several enabling technologies for precise formation flying. The secondary purpose of CanX-2 is to fly a number of university experiments. The spacecraft mission, the engineering and scientific payloads, and their implication to planned SFL nanosatellite formation flight missions form the basis for this paper. CanX-2 is currently well within the two-year design period and fast approaching flight-ready status with launch scheduled for mid 2006.