CubeSats: stepping stones into space?

Alex Calvo »

Introduction

The word “space” often prompts images of massive, expensive, state-sponsored enterprises mobilizing myriad personnel and resources, along the lines of Sputnik and the Apollo Project. While space does indeed remain to a large extent the province of such actors, it has increasingly featured a wider constellation of smaller scale projects, as lesser space powers and private corporations entered this arena. This has happened to the extent that some space applications such as telecommunications satellites are nowadays mostly in the hands of private corporations. At the same time, a growing list of actors, including universities and other research institutions, have stablished a foothold in near-Earth orbit in the form of nanosatellites, including the object of this paper, CubeSats. Our purpose is to describe them, providing the reader with a brief introduction to the subject, and to illustrate by means of a few examples how CubeSats can indeed be a first step into space for academic institutions thanks to their relatively low cost and technological requirements. This paper has been written as part of the course requirements for  “Principios Básicos de Química y Estructura (61031026)”, a one-semester first-year course within UNED’s degree in chemistry. UNED, National Distance-Learning University, is Spain’s open university and its Science Department offers degrees in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and environmental sciences, as well as master’s degrees, PhD programs, and short and continuous education courses in these fields.

What do we mean by “CubeSat”? A few examples and some key characteristics

A CubeSat is basically a standardized nanosatellite usually placed into orbit piggybacking another mission, and mostly devoted to scientific research. Many CubeSats are built and operated by universities and other academic institutions, while their low cost also places them within reach of small and medium sized enterprises, developing nations, and even space amateurs.

Some CubeSats are released from the International Space Station (ISS). Those taken into orbit in a rocket can be released in a number of different ways. A very common one, thanks to their form, are container-based integration systems, or dispensers. They serve as an interface between the CubeSat and the launch vehicle.^[1]

A dispenser is a rectangular box with a hinged door and spring mechanism. The door is commanded to open, and then the spring deploys the CubeSat. Dispensers can feature one of two constraint systems: either a rail-type dispenser, or a tab-type dispenser. Many companies currently manufacture dispensers. ^[2]

NASA defines CubeSats as “a class of nanosatellites that use a standard size and form factor.  The standard CubeSat size uses a “one unit” or “1U” measuring 10x10x10 cms and is extendable to larger sizes; 1.5, 2, 3, 6, and even 12U.”, adding that they were “Originally developed in 1999 by California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Stanford University to provide a platform for education and space exploration.”.^[3] NASA explains that “The most updated CubeSat Design Specification document is found at http://www.cubesat.org, a website maintained and operated by California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo, the creators of the CubeSat form factor.”^[4]

The Agency explained in its website that NASA Ames had launched its first CubeSat, called GeneSat, in December 2006. This was followed by a further 16 CubeSat spacecraft, with sizes ranging between 1U and 3U, while another 12 CubeSats were either being developed or awaiting launch. Planned CubeSat missions included NASA’s first true swarm, the Edison Demonstration of Small Networks (EDSN), as well as the Agency’s first 6U, labelled EcAMSat. ^[5] Unfortunately, EDSN’s eight CubeSats were lost on the 3^rd of November 2015 when their launch vehicle failed.^[6] On the other hand, EcAMSat was more successful. In November 2017 it was deployed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS), carrying an experiment on bacterial antibiotic resistance in space. ^[7]

It has been observed that host immune response decreases in space, while bacterial antibiotic resistance grows. This is already a major and growing problem on Earth, but its consequences can be even more poignant in space missions, since astronauts enjoy less medical support and are subject to the rigours of a challenging environment. The experiment was planned to help untangle the genetic and functional basis of E. coli’s antibacterial resistance.^[8]

Carried out between 17 and 30 November 2017, EcAMSat was considered to be a complete success. Experiments were carried out autonomously, without the need for commands from Earth. Students at Santa Clara University in California monitored the spacecraft, handled mission operations, and downloaded data. Having concluded its mission, the satellite burned up on re-entry 18 months later. ^[9]

EcAMSat mission patch. [10]	Internal components of EcAMSat. [11]	EcAMSat deployment from the ISS. [12]

EcAMSat illustrates some of the characteristics of many CubeSats, such as the potential for cooperation among different actors, including national space agencies and universities, and the ability to carry out scientific experiments at a relatively low cost. While not all CubeSats are released from the ISS, this project serves as a reminder that some are, and that their characteristics, including their dimensions and weight enable them to be put into orbit from such platform.

A way in NASA cooperates with educational institutions in the field of CubeSats is through its “CubeSat Launch Initiative”. The range of potential partners is very wide, from US educational institutions to non-profit organizations, including all sorts of educational institutions, not just universities, but also museums and science centres. At the time of writing, this NASA initiative had resulted in the launch of more than 150 CubeSats, with many more in the pipeline. It is interesting to note that under this umbrella program, a CubeSat was built for the first time by an American high school (“TJ3Sat”), middle school (“WeissSat1”), and primary school (“STMSat-1”).^[13]   That is, it demonstrated how not just universities and advanced tertiary educational institutions can access space through this gateway.

NASA’s flagship Artemis program also includes some room for CubeSats. Plans in place for the Artemis II test flight (the first crewed mission within the Artemis program) include the release of five CubeSats, provided by Artemis partners. ^[14]

The way CubeSats shall be deployed by Artemis craft is as follows: they will ride to space placed inside a ring connecting NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s upper stage. After high Earth orbit has been reached, the upper stage shall detach from Orion and the CubeSats shall be deployed. This will take place once the spacecraft is safely flying on its own and is located at a safe distance away from the upper stage. ^[15] 

One these CubeSats to be deployed during the Artemis II test flight will be TACHELES, provided by the German Space Agency DLR under an agreement signed on 18 September 2024. This CubeSat is tasked with collecting data on the effects of the space environment on electrical components, with the goal of helping design lunar vehicles. ^[16] 

ESA defines CubeSats in similar terms to those of NASA. The European Space Agency employs CubeSats for In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of miniaturised technologies, as well as to carry out small payload-driven missions.^[17]

In discussing CubeSats, ESA emphasizes some key characteristics: ^[18]

• Standardized dimensions promotes systems which are highly modular and integrated. Such systems include satellite subsystems available as ’commercial off the shelf’ products from a range of suppliers.
• CubeSats can be stacked together, according to mission needs.
• Standard dimensions make it possible for CubeSats to be put into orbit within a container. This makes it easier for the CubeSat to be accommodated inside the launcher (normally as secondary cargo, that is “piggybanking”) and helps to manage flight safety issues. The result is two-fold: greater launch opportunities and lower launch costs.
• High degree of modularity and extensive use of commercial off the shelf components, resulting in much shorter development times (often between one and two years) for CubeSat projects, in comparison with their traditional counterparts.

The European Space Agency emphasizes that CubeSats have proven their worth as educational tools, adding that “they have various promising applications in the ESA context”, including: ^[19]

• As a driver for the drastic miniaturisation of systems, going as far as the so-called “systems-on-chips”, and including techniques and strategies like multi-functional structures and embedded propulsion.
• As technology demonstrators of the previously mentioned technologies, as well as of other techniques, including de-orbiting devices and formation flying.
• Distributed multiple in-situ measurements. An example could be simultaneous multi-point observations of the space environment (such as the thermosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere, or charged particle flux).
• The deployment of small payloads, such as very compact radio receivers or optical cameras. Here, their lesser capabilities would be compensated by the numbers of CubeSats involved. In other words: instead of a single, expensive, very capable, system, one would have a swarm of simpler, less advanced platforms.

Concerning this last point, while not addressed in ESA’s website, we should note that it could be applicable to the military or wider security domain. In particular given that maritime democracies can no longer simply assume that their space assets will remain fully operational in the event of open peer-to-peer conflict. The redundancy and resilience provided by nanosatellite swarms could well turn out to be a key contribution in what is gradually becoming an essential domain, often described as the ultimate high ground.

Japan’s JAXA is also a major player when it comes to CubeSats. Its work includes three aspects to which Japan has been devoting much effort and resources:

• The deployment of CubeSats from the ISS’ Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) «Kibo». Kibo is a ISS module, developed by Japan, where experiments and observations are conducted in microgravity conditions. It is the ISS’ largest module, made up four main elements. These are  two main experiment facilities, an internal one called “Pressurized Module” (PM) and an external one termed “Exposed Facility” (EF), a storage space called “Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section” (ELM-ES), and a robotic arm named “Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System” (JEMRMS) which is employed to conduct experiments as well as other tasks.^[20] Kibo features the “JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer” (J-SSOD), from which 86 CubeSats have been released.^[21]
• Cooperation with developing nations and Asian partners in the design, construction, launch of CubeSats.
• Training and technical assistance in this field, partly through the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). This includes the KiboCube Academy.^[22]

Overall view of Kibo (picture taken during a spacewalk, or EVA). [23]	SaganSat0, a CubeSat released from Kibo on 29 August 2024 together with six more. [24]

One of the latest CubeSats released from the ISS’ Kibo module in August 2024 is called “SaganSat0”. Its name comes from Saga Prefecture, the smallest one in the Southern island of Kyushu, and in addition to the prefectural government itself, the partners responsible for the project include a museum (the Saga Prefectural Space and Science Museum «Yumeginga»), an academic institution (Kyushu Institute of Technology), a technical high school (Arita Technical High School), and four high schools (Karatsu-higashi Senior High School, Takeo High School, Hokuryo High School, Waseda Saga High School). It is thus an excellent example of one of CubeSats’ defining characteristics, their ability to bring together non-traditional space actors and open for them the gates to the ultimate frontier. A reminder that run-of-the-mill schools can participate in space projects if truly motivated to do so, SaganSat0’s size is one unit and it is devoted to the promotion of science education for high school students in Saga Prefecture. Its concrete missions and equipment include two 360-degree cameras, an infrared camera (used to measure the amount and distribution of clouds), and a gamma rays sensor. ^[25]

The birth of CubeSats and their technical standards · Cal Poly’s pioneer work

We have already mentioned how CubeSats were born, but we shall provide a few more details in this section of our paper. In 1999 the CubeSat standard was created by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and Stanford University’s Space Systems Development Lab, with the goal of facilitating access to space for university students. Hundreds of organizations worldwide later adopted this standard, developers going beyond universities and educational institutions and also including private firms, as well as government organizations.^[26]

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, remains a major actor in the CubeSat ecosystem. It contains the Cal Poly CubeSat Laboratory (CPCL), a multidisciplinary independent research lab serving as the CubeSat development team of this educational institution. The CPCL’s role is dual, being both an originator and a leader for launches within the CubeSat community. ^[27] The resulting statistics are impressive and include: ^[28]

• More than 25 million dollars worth of sponsored projects.
• Training for more than 1,000 students from different colleges.
• 12 CubeSats developed and launched in house, with more in the design stage.
• Support provided to more than 175 CubeSat missions.

Building on this work, and while continuing to design, build, and launch, CubeSats, Cal Poly is taking steps in two further directions: ^[29]

• Setting up a program to provide CubeSat developers with the cumulative knowledge and experience Cal Poly’s many missions. The lessons learned from those missions will provide the foundation for educational materials that developers shall be able to employ to avoid common mistakes and trouble which have featured in earlier missions. The ultimate goal of the program is to raise the overall success rates of CubeSat programs. The first step in this Best Practices program is the creation of an easily-searchable database of gathered knowledge.
• A training program to teach CubeSat developers all aspects of their design, testing, program organization, and licensing, among others.

Concerning training and outreach, Cal Poly organizes a yearly CubeSat Developers Workshop.^[30]

Every year, over three days of live presentations, exhibit booths, Q&A panels, and other activities, more than 500 industry professionals, small satellite developers, and students, gather. Cal Poly considers this yearly event to be particularly useful to new members of the CubeSat community, providing them not just with knowledge but also with unique opportunities to network and meet industry veterans. ^[31]

Next edition will take place between the 22^nd and the 24^th of April 2025, at the Performing Arts Center. Presentation slides from previous gatherings are available at the website of the CubeSat Developers Workshop. ^[32]

Cubesats beyond Earth: the case of Mars Cube One (MarCO)

Up to this point we have implicitly assumed that CubeSats are always meant to be placed into orbit around Earth. However, their role need not be limited to our original planet. Actually, plans to deploy CubeSats around Mars and the Moon are already in place.

As an example, we shall briefly discuss the first two CubeSats to actually make it to the Red Planet, albeit only flying by it, Mars Cube One (MarCO). These were the first ever  Interplanetary CubeSats.^[33]

Built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena (California), they were two  twin communications-relay CubeSats, and amounted to a technology demonstration. ^[34]

Called MarCO-A and B, respectively, their role was to monitor the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander for a short period around its chosen landing site, while demonstrating a much more ambitious set of potential future capabilities. Flying independently to the Red Planet, the MarCO twins carried their own communications gear onboard, as well as navigation experiments. ^[35]

These CubeSats were important at many levels, not just because they made it to Mars, although that by and in itself is no small feat, but because they played an auxiliary role to ensure the InSight lander was a success, as it truly was. The InSight mission took place between May 2018 and December 2022, and it was the first mission to study in depth Mars’ inner space, including the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. Its remit went beyond the Red Planet, studying processes that gave shape to the Solar System’s rocky (or Earth-like) planets more than four billion years ago. The lander’s robotic arm (over 5 feet 9 inches, or 1.8 meters, long) lifted a seismometer and heat flow probe from its deck and managed to place them on the surface of the planet. It prompted much interest from the public when it recorded the sound of Martian winds on the planet’s surface. ^[36]

On 5 May 2018 an Atlas V-401 rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base) California) carrying both the InSight lander and its two companions. Half a year later, on 26 November 2018, InSight landed on Mar’s Elysium Planitia. The lander was operation until 15 December 2022, when the mission was officially brought to a close. ^[37]

On their way to Mars, MarCO-A and B flew following their own path behind InSight.^[38]

CubeSat kits: can one build a CubeSat at home?

A question in the minds of many scientists, teachers, school teams, and others thinking of operating a CubeSat is whether it can be built domestically, without the need to purchase it off the shelf. Linked to that, a second question is the relative cost, accounted in terms of time and money, of assembling one’s own CubeSat from components rather than buying the satellite framework (including embedded standard components such as batteries) and adding the desired experiment or equipment.

Companies offering CubeSat kits, include Interorbital Systems^[39] and EdgeFlyte. ^[40] Some websites offer components from different providers.

Interorbital Systems claims that “The IOS CubeSat Kit is currently the lowest-cost professional-quality CubeSat Kit on the planet. It is assembled with high-quality, custom-printed circuit boards and precision laser-cut aluminum components. CubeSat kit builders include engineering or science professionals who wish to space-qualify hardware in Low Earth Orbit, educational institutions requiring student training in spacecraft design, and experimenters who just want a chance to explore space. The CubeSat can also serve as a Personal Satellite for artists, musicians, advertisers, generics or individuals who wish to send items into space, or to transmit messages from space. If required, and for extra fees based on mission requirements, Interorbital Systems and its partners can offer design, development, training, and manufacturing services to individuals who do no possess the technical skills required to build the spacecraft. The first completed IOS CubeSat Kit 1.0 was launched into orbit by India’s PSLV launch vehicle in 2019.”, while offering an even more advanced product, the “IOS CubeSat 2.0 Kit”.^[41]

Concerning EdgeFlyte, it claims its “1u CubeSat v1” is “a hands-on educational tool that empowers you to build and experiment your very own mini satellite”, which comes with “everything you need to get started on your space exploration journey. From the CubeSat frame and structure to the solar panels, sensors, and communication system” and does not require soldering skills. ^[42]

On the other hand, companies and organizations offering launch opportunities include:^[43]

• Cal Poly
• Innovative Solutions in Space (ISIS)
• NanoRacks
• Spaceflight Industries, Inc.
• TriSept Corporation
• Tyvak

In a 17-part video series titled “Building a CubeSat for less than $1000”,^[44] Youtube channel RG SAT discusses the possibility of building a CubeSat without exceeding that budget and explains how it could be done. The goals are manyfold and include ascertaining whether the markup of companies offering assembled kits is worth the time and effort involved in building a CubeSat oneself. While the series’ overall conclusion is that this is achievable, a comment to the first video, acknowledged by the channel’s owner as right on the mark and fixed, reminds watchers that “I work in this industry and yes these things are seriously expensive but also the cost isn’t necessarily due to the hardware being expensive. The cost comes from testing and verification. Most integrators and launch providers want detailed information concerning vibration testing, material certifications for outgassing, vacuum testing and burn in. A lot of the players in the sat industry can’t really afford to mess this up so they want to make sure the one shot they do have works. All of this additional engineering and testing costs are what kills the affordability. Even if you can get away with doing this all yourself, either academically or otherwise,  no launch provider is going to let you on a ride share without this work, which requires specific testing hardware and a lot of man hours… which coincidentally costs a lot of money.”^[45]. Thus, we should not forget that the cost of making a CubeSat is not just that of its components.

Conclusions: CubeSats as stepping stone into space

The characteristics of CubeSats, first and foremost their standardization and relative low cost, together with the existence of a true community facilitating the exchange of ideas and the spread of best practices and lessons learned, make them the ideal first step into space for schools, universities, educational and cultural institutions, and more generally all sort of small and medium-sized actors. They thus constitute one of the pillars of the much-discussed democratization of space and diversification away from national space agencies, which remain very much dominant but no longer hold a monopoly of space exploration and other uses.

We have only scanned the surface, providing a brief overview, and not entering at all key aspects of CubeSat design and operation such as their legal and regulatory regime. The range of applications discussed has also been very small, and excluded both long-standing uses such as meteorology and more novel disciplines such as astrobotany. However, it has sufficed to show the reader what CubeSats are, how they can be used, some of their main characteristics, and hopefully have whetted his appetite to learn more about them and hopefully one day get involved in their design, construction, and operation. That was indeed our goal.

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References

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[22] For an example of one of its lectures, see “Lecture 18: Introduction to CubeSat Payload System”, website of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), undated, available at https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/psa/access2space4all/KiboCUBE/AcademySeason2/On-demand_Pre-recorded_Lectures/KiboCUBE_Academy_2022_OPL18.pdf , accessed on 18 October 2024.

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[44] “Building a CubeSat for less than $1000” playlist, RG Sat channel, Youtube, 28 January 2020 – 16 June 2022,  available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8TSiKHZbC8&list=PLW7PVoULStKCJPlciXTRpPKIm9vugan-e&index=1, accessed on 12 October 2024.

[45] Comment by user “@maadmaxx123” on the video “Building a CubeSat for less than $1000 — Part 1 — It should be possible”, part of the “Building a CubeSat for less than $1000” playlist, RG Sat channel, Youtube, 28 January 2020 – 16 June 2022,  available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8TSiKHZbC8&list=PLW7PVoULStKCJPlciXTRpPKIm9vugan-e&index=1, accessed on 12 October 2024.

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Written as part of the course requirements for “Principios Básicos de Química y Estructura (61031026)”, academic year 2024-2025.