Ionic Neutron Content Analyzer: System design of a student built 3U CubeSat

摘要

The Ionic Neutron Content Analyzer (INCA) spacecraft is a student built 3U CubeSat designed and built by the New Mexico State University NanoSat Lab. INCAs mission is to demonstrate the functionality of a new Scintillator - Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) based neutron detector designed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. The detector will provide science return by measuring neutron flux in Low Earth Orbit over time and a range of latitudes. This work provides technical details on the design of the INCA spacecraft to aid future CubeSat missions. This paper presents INCAs subsystems including: the architecture and design of the communication system, including software and hardware for both the satellite and its ground station: the design of mission software, which includes both the flight software and ground station architecture; the derivation of the prediction and update steps of the Kalman filter used for attitude determination; design and simulation of the spin-stabilized attitude control system utilizing only magnetorquers for actuation; an overview of the design and testing of INCAs thermal, vibrational, and structural properties. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from the assembly and integration of the INCA spacecraft. Additionally provided is a link to select portions of the described software developed by the INCA team.