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The INSPIRE-2 CubeSat for the QB50 Project

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The 2-unit CubeSat INSPIRE-2/AU03 was designed, built, tested, delivered, and accepted by the European Union’s QB50 project in less than 10 months and for less than US$120,000 in non-salary outlays including launch, despite being a first satellite. It carried 5 instruments (a multi-Needle Langmuir Probe, a diffraction-limited spectrograph, an advanced GPS receiver, and 2 radiation detectors) and the satellite hardware included both Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and Australian components. INSPIRE-2 was deployed into space from the International Space Station by Nanoracks on 26 May 2017 following an Atlas V launch. The satellite was brought online a month after launch as a result of a major campaign with the international radio amateur community. The uplink function of the Communications board was badly damaged in July 2017 in the first of that year’s two major, extended, space weather periods, plausibly due to radiation damage. While INSPIRE-2’s radio beacons were resurrected and continued for over a year the Communications board’s handshaking protocols meant that downlinking of data was not possible. INSPIRE-2 lived for over a year in space with mostly functioning systems. This paper summarises the major firsts and importance of INSPIRE-2 and its fellow Australian QB50 CubeSats UNSW-EC0 and SuSat (e.g., the first Australian CubeSats and the first Australian-built satellites in 16 years), as well as the science and technical goals, instruments, spacecraft systems, recovery, initial data, and evidence that the major space weather events of 12 July - 4 August 2017 significantly damaged INSPIRE-2 and caused an outage from 26 July to 5 September 2017. It also discusses the lessons learned and the reasons why CubeSats in constellations like QB50, whether international or Australian, provide excellent opportunities for scientific, technical, and commercial development, public outreach and engagement, and international engagement.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the huge efforts by Amandine Denis, Davide Masutti, and the staffs of the QB50 Project, van Karman Institute, and Nanoracks Inc to bring the QB50 Project to completion and INSPIRE-2 into orbit. We thank Jan van Gils, the Pe0Sat team, the SATNOGS team, and the international radio amateur community for their vital contributions to bringing INSPIRE-2 alive and giving us the beacon data. We thank Australian Commonwealth Ministers Pyne and Hunt and the staff of the Space Policy Unit (SPU) of the Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science for INSPIRE-2’s Overseas Launch Certificate and associated financial and insurance waivers. We thank the IARU for approving the radio licenses required. We acknowledge the great contributions of Ms Helen Brown (Solicitor, Office of General Counsel) and Dr David Dall (Research Manager, Faculty of Science) at The University of Sydney for performing most of the legal and Commonwealth Government work required to launch INSPIRE-2 into space. We particularly acknowledge Dr Michael Petkovic, Dr Naomi Matters, and their staff at AITC for their integration advice and testing of all three Australian QB50 CubeSats. At USydney the Research Portfolio, Faculties of Science and Engineering, Schools of Physics and of Aerospace, Mechanical, and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME), and INSPIRE-2’s staff funded the legal applications, participation in the QB50 project, and testing at AITC. The SP3 Laboratory funded INSPIRE-2’s COTS hardware while SP3 and ANU’s Research School for Physics and Engineering funded the Blue Wren Ground Station. The Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER)at the University of New South Wales provided the Kea instrument and provided postdoctoral fellowship and PhD student funding and testing facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Iver H. Cairns, Jiro Funamoto, Wayne Peacock, Barnaby Osborne, A. G. Monger, J. Khachan, S. Manidis & R. Maj

  2. Sydney Astrophotonic Instrumentation Laboratory, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, Australia

    Christopher H. Betters, Sergio G. Leon-Saval & Joss Bland-Hawthorn

  3. Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    X. Wu

  4. Space Plasma Power and Propulsion (SP3) Laboratory, Research School of Physics and Engineering (RSPE), The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Christine Charles, R. W. Boswell & D. Tsifakis

  5. Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER), University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Andrew G. Dempster, Joon Wayn Cheong, John Lam, Will Andrew, Tom Croston & Ben Southwell

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  1. Iver H. Cairns
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Correspondence to Iver H. Cairns.

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Multi-Point Measurements of the Thermosphere with the QB50 Mission

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Cairns, I.H., Charles, C., Dempster, A.G. et al. The INSPIRE-2 CubeSat for the QB50 Project. Space Sci Rev 216, 40 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00659-w

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