Ricerc@Sapienza

The introduction of the Cubesat Standard, together with the miniaturization and improved performance of on-board satellite electronic components, allows developing small low cost scientific and education space missions. The new development of space activity involves the study of nano-satellites, by the aid of novel technologies which allow to achieve remarkable scientific soundness with low-cost payloads. Such technologies are at disposal of students since the reduced hardware and the possibility to use commercial components for the whole subsystems control.

The feasibility and design of the CultCube 12U CubeSat hosting a small Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) for the autonomous cultivation of a small plant in orbit is described. The satellite is aimed at running experiments in fruit plants growing for applications in crewed vehicles for long-term missions in space.

This paper presents the design of a circularly polarized (CP) meshed patch antenna fully integrated within a solar panel for operation on CubeSats and other microsatellites. The structure has been designed to ensure optimal antenna performance at S -band as well as to minimize any shadowing effects that can reduce the received power at the solar cells. To generate CP, the antenna is driven by two orthogonal feed points, penetrating through a transparent borosilicate glass layer, as well as a silicon and PCB substrate.