As time progresses, technology advances and shrinks. Computers, once the size of an entire room, are now hand-held devices; satellites are no different. Naia Butler-Craig, a systems engineer intern at NASA Glenn, is working on assembling and testing the Advanced Electrical Bus (ALBus) CubeSat, a 3-unit CubeSat that weighs less than four kilograms and is the size of a loaf of bread. CubeSats provide scientists and technologists a cost-effective alternative for space investigations and technology demonstration missions.
The ALBus CubeSat, scheduled to launch early next year, is a pathfinder technology demonstration for high power density CubeSats. The mission will demonstrate power management and distribution of 100 watts of electrical power to a target load, system performance of a high power density CubeSat and successful deployment of solar arrays and antennas using resettable shape memory alloy mechanisms.
Feature: Heather O’Dell
Image credit:
NASA/ Bridget Caswell, Alcyon Technical Services