ESTABLISH THE ENVIRONMENT TO SUPPORT COST-EFFECTIVE AND RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO-SATELLITES

摘要

Recently, the development of Micro-satellites weighing 100 kg or less has been paid great attentions. The SpaceRobotics Laboratory of Tohoku University has three 50kg Micro-satellite projects. The first satellite "SPRITE-SAT"has been successfully launched into Earth orbit, and also been operated. The flight model of the second satellite"RISING-2" has been assembled and its software development is now finalized, being ready for the launch plannedin next year. The third satellite "RISESAT" project is during the EM (Engineering Model) development phase at thetime of writing. The launch is planned in the second half of 2013.Because of their easy handling characteristics, Micro-satellites are expected to be tools for orbit demonstration oflatest engineering technologies and science observations with latest high-performance instruments. To meet theseexpectations, enhancement of cost-effective and rapid development capability of Micro-satellites becomes essential.Space Robotics Laboratory aims to establish a cost-effective and rapid development environment for microsatellitesthrough the RISESAT project. After the establishment of this environment, it can be applied for future microsatellitemissions. We have established basic functional requirements of this environment and named it as MEVIμS:Model-based Environment for Verification and Integration of μ-Satellite. MEVIμS will be capable of supportingmodel-based SILS (Software in the Loop Simulation), HILS (Hardware in the Loop Simulation) with satellite'svarious hardware components and even operation.The paper will discuss detail of composition and development progress of MEVIUS in conjunction with ongoingRISESAT's project.