Abstract-Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is a multi-static radar using navigation signals as signals of opportunity. It provides wide-swath and improved spatio-temporal sampling over current space-borne missions. The lack of experimental datasets from space covering signals from multiple constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou) at dual-band (L1 and L2), and dual-polarization (Right and Left Hand Circular Polarization: RHCP and LHCP), over the ocean, land and cryosphere remains a bottleneck to further develop these techniques. 3
This article introduces 3 Cat-1, the first project of the Technical University of Catalonia to build and launch a nano-satellite. Its main scope is to develop, construct, assemble, test and launch into a low Earth orbit a CubeSat with seven different payloads (mono-atomic oxygen detector, graphene field-effect transistor, self-powered beacon, Geiger radiation counter, wireless power transfer (WPT), new topology solar cells and WPT experiment), all fitted in a single-unit CubeSat. On one hand, this is mainly an educational project in which the development of some of the subsystems is carried out by undergraduate and postgraduate students. The satellite demonstrates its capabilities as a cost-effective platform to perform small scientific experiments and to demonstrate some of the new technologies that it incorporates.
This work describes the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) of ³CAT-2, a six-unit CubeSat scheduled for launch this 2016. The ADCS of 3 CAT-2 aims at controlling the satellite in orbit and fulfilling the pointing requirements imposed by the mission. The attitude control system implemented in 3 CAT-2 will be used to point the antennas towards the Earth to perform altimetry tests, orient the solar panels towards the Sun to maximize power input when battery levels are critical, and reduce the tumbling motion of the satellite after the deployment phase. In order to guarantee pointing requirements for remote sensing purposes, an active three-axis attitude determination and control system is considered.
Scientific evaluation of the 3Cat-2 payload\ud
(PYCARO reflectometer) has been performed\ud
from the BEXUS 19 stratospheric balloon flight\ud
with an apogee of ~ 27,000 m over boreal forests\ud
and lakes. The payload was configured in closedloop\ud
mode during this flight. Results show the\ud
first-ever multi-constellation Global Navigation\ud
Satellite Systems Reflectometry (GNSS-R)\ud
measurements at dual-band and dual-polarization.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.