The indiana space grant consortium (insgc) is proposing that consortium academic affiliate, the university of southern indiana (USI), for a multidisciplinary student project to develop, build and…

This is a cooperative agreement awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Purdue University, an institution of higher education, for the Undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer (UNITE) CubeSat project. The objective is to develop, build, and fly a 2U CubeSat to make measurements in the lower ionosphere. Key subsystems, including a Globalstar communications system and Langmuir plasma probe, will be procured to help ensure mission success. The $199,195.36 award will fund the student-led project, with technical support from industry affiliate Near Space Launch LLC. The UNITE CubeSat is planned to operate for 30-60 days in a ~325 km, 50-degree inclination orbit. This contract does not utilize a set-aside program.

The indiana space grant consortium (insgc) is proposing that consortium academic affiliate, the university of southern indiana (USI), for a multidisciplinary student project to develop, build and fly a 2U cubesat to make a series of global measurements in the largely unexplored lower ionosphere. Critical build and test experience will be performed at insgc industry affiliate, near space launch LLC (NSL). The project name would be: undergraduate nano ionospheric temperature explorer (unite). In addition, insgc industrial affiliate near space launch (NSL) will assist the project team in prototyping and testing the cubesat components during 10 week internships at NSL in summer 2016. The objective of the science/technology component would be to explore the extremely low earth orbit environment and would feature (1) space weather measurements using a langmuir plasma probe, (2) assessment of cubesat drag in this lower region of the ionosphere and (3) cubesat temperature measurements to compare against a thermal model. These unite objectives would be supported by the purchase of these technical readiness level 9 subsystems: 2U structure, and electric power system, the globalstar communications systems and langmuir plasma probe. The globalstar communications systems allows 24/7 data reception on a university server while the cubesat orbits the earth. These key subsystems, with flight heritage and the successful tsat (taylor satellite) cubesat, will help ensure a high probability of unite mission success. The unite cubesat flight would last between 30 and 60 days if inserted into an approximately 325 KM, 50P inclination orbit.