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New information for 2024-25
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= Getting Started with Satellites 🛰️ =
= Getting Started with Satellites 🛰️ =
[[File:Sapling1-crew.jpg|left|thumb|A crew of Satellites students posing with Sapling-1|alt=|300x300px]]
[[File:Sapling1-crew.jpg|left|thumb|A crew of Satellites students posing with Sapling-1|alt=|300x300px]]
And of course if any questions or confusions come up, don't hesitate to reach out to any of the Satellite Team Leads. Also feel free to reach out to Subteam Leads if you have subteam-specific questions!
And of course if any questions or confusions come up, don't hesitate to reach out to any of the Satellite Team Leads. Also feel free to reach out to Subteam Leads if you have subteam-specific questions!
===Outside Stanford===
===Outside Stanford===
If you're not affiliated with Stanford but are interested in the team and our projects, we'd still love to have you! To get in touch, please email one or all of the team leads [mailto:raigosa@stanford.edu Ashley Raigosa], [mailto:spenwall@stanford.edu Spencer Wallace], and [mailto:theo24@stanford.edu Theo Makler].
If you're not affiliated with Stanford but are interested in the team and our projects, we'd still love to have you! To get in touch, please email one or all of the team leads (see above).
=== SSI and Satellites Events Calendar 📅 ===
=== SSI and Satellites Events Calendar 📅 ===
== Subteams ==
== Subteams ==
Building a satellite is definitely not a simple job! There's a lot that goes into each one, so to help streamline things we divide up the work into '''subteams'''. Each of these subteams has a specific task associated with the satellite, and together they work together to make the mission a success. Below you'll find descriptions of each subteam, ways to contact our current subteam leads, and links to their respective Slack channels. While each subteam has their own projects, there's a huge amount of collaboration between groups and lots of people work on multiple!
Building a satellite is definitely not a simple job! There's a lot that goes into each one, so to help streamline things we divide up the work into '''subteams'''. Each of these subteams has a specific task associated with the satellite, and together they work together to make the mission a success. Below you'll find descriptions of each subteam, ways to contact our current subteam leads, and links to their respective Slack channels. While each subteam has their own projects, there's a huge amount of collaboration between groups and lots of people work on multiple!
=== Avionics ===
=== Avionics ===
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-avionics satellites-avionics]
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-avionics satellites-avionics]
Subteam Lead: Hunter Liu
Subteam Leads: Kaitlyn Leitherer and Da-Hee Kim
The avionics subteam focuses on all of the hardware on the satellite that makes the electronics system work! This "bus" hardware includes power, compute, and sensing systems. Our current flight computer, the central computer of the satellite that handles all information coming in and out and executes commands, is a modified PyCubed microcontroller that runs our CircuitPython flight code. The satellite is powered by a solar power system based off of the LT3652 chip and some NCR18650B batteries, and it also includes a sensing system with sun sensors, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and thermistors to measure temperature.
The avionics subteam focuses on all of the hardware on the satellite that makes the electronics system work! This "bus" hardware includes power, compute, and sensing systems. Our current flight computer, the central computer of the satellite that handles all information coming in and out and executes commands, is a modified PyCubed microcontroller that runs our CircuitPython flight code. The satellite is powered by a solar power system based off of the LT3652 chip and some NCR18650B batteries, and it also includes a sensing system with sun sensors, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and thermistors to measure temperature.
All of the hardware is designed in KiCad and we make updates with every satellite we fly. On SAMWISE we're going to increase the size of our power system to generate six times the power, add more sensors for more precise attitude determination and health monitoring, and add hardware to work with the payloads effectively. We're also planning on adding support for a new reaction wheel system for the ADCS subteam. This subteam has a bunch of super exciting projects happening, so be sure to check out the Slack channel above and reach out!
All of the hardware is designed in KiCad and we make updates with every satellite we fly. On SAMWISE we're going to increase the size of our power system to generate six times the power, add more sensors for more precise attitude determination and health monitoring, and add hardware to work with the payloads effectively. We're also planning on adding support for a new reaction wheel system for the ADCS subteam. This subteam has a bunch of super exciting projects happening, so be sure to check out the Slack channel above and reach out!
=== Payload ===
=== Mission Control ===
[[File:Smallsat-selfie-2023.jpg|thumb|This selfie was taken with the main camera of Sapling-2!]]
[[File:Smallsat-selfie-2023.jpg|thumb|This selfie was taken with the main camera of Sapling-2!]]
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-payload satellites-payload]
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-mission-control satellites-mission-control]
Subteam Lead: Mason Matich
Like the name suggests, we are developing a mission control center (just like NASA!) to receive and process data from our satellite, as well as be able to send it commands and downlink files from space! Most mission control efforts are based in Durand - SAMWISE communicates over two different radio bands (UHF and S-Band) so we have one antenna on the roof for each, as well as supporting stuctures, control electronics and software. There are also lots of ongoing efforts to automate storing the sata, as well as commanding the satellite.
All in all this is a super exciting team combining many different disciplines of engineering. You'll also get to be the first to see data from our satellite once it makes it to space!
=== Software ===
=== Software ===
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-software satellites-software]
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-software satellites-software]
Subteam Lead: Kien Deshpande
Subteam Leads: Jopseph Shetaye and Pietro Marsella
The software team is responsible for (obviously) all the code that runs on the satellite! This primarily includes our main flight computer code, as well as the code that runs on the Raspberry Pi imaging payload. The code was formerly written in python, but as of October 2024, we are rewriting most of flight code in C for greater robustness!
=== Structures ===
=== Structures ===
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-structures satellites-structures]
Slack channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-structures satellites-structures]
Subteam Leads: Jacob Mukobi, Siolé Mayeski, and Jeremy Merritt
Subteam Leads: Anish Bayya and Mason Matich
Hi! This is the structures subteam, where we design and build the core mechanical components of the satellite. The structure holds everything together and allows for the satellite to fit into CubeSat standard deployers, which push the satellite out of the spacecraft in orbit. If you're interested in mechanical engineering this is definitely the subteam for you, but of course everyone is welcome!
Hi! This is the structures subteam, where we design and build the core mechanical components of the satellite. The structure holds everything together and allows for the satellite to fit into CubeSat standard deployers, which push the satellite out of the spacecraft in orbit. If you're interested in mechanical engineering this is definitely the subteam for you, but of course everyone is welcome!
Subteam Lead: kinda everyone!
Subteam Lead: kinda everyone!
The systems subteam is the subteam for everyone! We focus on making sure all the different pieces of the satellite work together and juggle the demands of various other subsystems. For example, our payload needs a certain amount of power but so does our ADCS system; the systems subteam is where these two groups can come together and work out who gets the available resources. In addition to these kinds of engineering discussions, we also work on administrative and operational topics.
The systems subteam is the subteam for everyone! We focus on making sure all the different pieces of the satellite work together and juggle the demands of various other subsystems. For example, our payload needs a certain amount of power but so does our ADCS system; the systems subteam is where these two groups can come together and work out who gets the available resources. In addition to these kinds of engineering discussions, we also work on administrative and operational topics.
=== Attitude Determination and Control (ADCS) ===
[[File:Magnetorquer.jpg|thumb|A magnetorquer board from Sapling-2; those lines are the coils of wire that generate a magnetic field!]]
Slack Channel: [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/satellites-adcs satellites-adcs]
Welcome! As it says in the name, the ADCS subteam is focused on two major parts of our on-orbit operations: figuring out the orientation of the satellite, and controlling this orientation. This is a super important part of any satellite, especially ones that takes pictures like ours. For our past missions we've used sun sensors for our attitude determination and magnetorquer boards for control. The sun sensors measure how much light is hitting each of the six sides of the satellite and combine this information to roughly determine where the sun is in relation to the satellite. Magnetorquer boards spin the satellite by creating a magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. This interaction creates a torque on the satellite, spinning it around an axis.
We have a BUNCH of projects for this subteam for the upcoming SAMWISE mission! In addition to creating new magnetorquer boards, '''we're developing reaction wheels and thrusters (!!!)''' for more precise pointing ability. Reaction wheels are small spinning disks attached to electric motors that rotate the satellite very precisely. The thrusters we're working on are vacuum arc thrusters, which work by ionizing a solid metal propellant and then accelerating those ions with a magnetic field. We're also developing a star tracker for our attitude determination, which takes pictures of the stars and figures out where the satellite is pointing. There's tons of super cool stuff happening with this subteam, so definitely join the slack to get started!
====== Note: The ADCS project is (for now) unlike the other teams, and tends to have more irregular meetings - stay tuned for updates! ======
= Missions =
= Missions =
== Current Mission: SAMWISE ==
== Current Mission: SAMWISE ==
Our current mission is SAMWISE, a 2U CubeSat (10cm x 10cm x 20cm rectangle) with a bunch of super cool technologies. Stay tuned for more info, but here's some big ticket items:
Our current mission is SAMWISE, a 2U CubeSat (10cm x 10cm x 20cm rectangle) with a bunch of super cool technologies. It is planned to launch on Transporter-15 in late 2025! Some big ticket items:
* Thrusters 🚀
* Thrusters 🚀
* It's literally twice as big as our last satellites so it must be twice as good right?
* It's literally twice as big as our last satellites so it must be twice as good right?
== Past Missions ==
== Past Missions ==
=== '''Website documenting all past ''Sapling''''' series missions''': [https://saplingsat.org saplingsat.org]''' ===
=== ''Sapling Giganteum'': 2022–2023 ===
=== ''Sapling Giganteum'': 2022–2023 ===