KySat-1 nearing Delivery for Launch

It's been a while since my last KySat-1 update and a lot has been going on. There have been some redesigns, software changes, document writing and testing preparations. My last update had us redesigning a board to make our Electrical Power System play nicely with the rest of the satellite. This redesign was of our solar panels and it increased the number of cells we have on KySat-1 from 86 to 110, almost a 28 percent increase! One of the important things this redesign does is allow us to keep our high-powered radio while still maintaining a positive power budget, which means, theoretically, we should never turn off because our batteries are too low.

The software changes were minor but important. The main change was a timing problem we had during initial deployment, which caused the satellite to take way too many pictures. It would have been a nightmare to get them from the satellite to us on earth. But all that is fixed and we should get some very nice pictures at startup including, hopefully, one showing the other CubeSats that will be flying with us, from University of Colorado, Boulder and Montana State University.

Finally, the flurry of document writing and test preparations means that the journey of KySat-1 is about reach a very important milestone: delivery to our launch integrator, California Polytechnic University. Delivery is scheduled for July 13 and will include turning over the satellite, giving a Mission Readiness Review presentation, and handing in a stack of documentation showing that we won't be a danger to the primary mission or the other CubeSats. KySat-1 is currently scheduled to launch with the NASA Glory Mission on November 22.

It has been a long road but the end is near and it's approaching ever faster. Stay tuned for more updates.

Daniel Erb

Graduate student, University of Kentucky

Kentucky Space