Mission Objectives

The satellite’s primary purpose is to compare multiple communication methods for the purpose of education and creating a best practices document for TJ and others.

Education Objectives

Inherently, the CubeSat project is an educational endeavor for TJHSST students. Students do not regularly encounter such large scale and intensive group projects in a typical classroom, so the TJ REVERB provides students the opportunity to learn how to function within subsystems and cooperate within a large team.

Subsystem Objectives

TJ students who are directly involved with the design and implementation of the satellite will learn how to function in smaller groups with specific tasks known as subsystems. Together these teams will cooperate inside and outside the classroom setting for TJ REVERB.

Orbit and Communciation

The Orbit/Comms subgroup is primarily responsible for evaluating and handling the communications systems on the Cubesat. The 1U CubeSat (TJREVERB) is predicated on testing the communications systems onboard. On this CubeSat, we will be testing three types of radios: one simplex UHF radio, one duplex UHF/VHF radio, and one duplex S-Band radio. The subgroup is responsible for pre-testing the radios as well.

Software

The Software subgroup exists to assist all other subgroups with any software related tasks. Our responsibilities include: maintaining the TJREVERB website to create awareness for TJREVERB, programming the flight computer of TJREVERB, performing TJREVERB outreach (programming focused or otherwise), and any other miscellaneous software-related tasks assigned to us by other groups.

Outreach

The Outreach team is designed to bring the TJREVERB project to those outside of the team. It is part of NASA’s mission and our own. We will be performing documentation for the team, so that we have records of the decisions made and the reasoning behind them. The team’s primary goal is to organize a workshop for teams from local schools where they will build mock CubeSats and learn about our project.

CAD

The CAD/Structural group will be focused more on creation of the 3U chassis (google “3U chassis cubesat” for more insight). For the 3U we will be using AutoDesk Fusion and OnShape create a computer aided design of the satellite. For this it is important to familiarize yourself with the basic commands and shortcuts of both Fusion and OnShape. As we are buying the frame for the 1U most work will start as soon as we receive the parts.

Testing

The purpose of the Thermal Control and Testing team is to ensure that the CubeSat survives in the environment of space. This includes ensuring that CubeSat internal components do not freeze or overheat due to the extreme cold and high heat fluxes in a Low Earth Orbit environment. Generally, the Thermal Control and Testing team requires information pertaining to the various electronic parts within the CubeSat, including their temperature tolerances and their respective efficiencies (to estimate heat output). Material specifics (thickness, type, etc.) are also necessary, for both vibration and thermal testing. To that end, the team will occasionally make contact with the other teams to determine these characteristics. While team members need not know how to conduct every type of testing, they should have some basic knowledge of mechanics and thermal physics. Knowledge of Autodesk Fusion 360 and MATLAB is also appreciated.

Electronics

The electronics subgroup of the TJ REVERB cubesat team helps test and manage the power supply, solar panels, attitude control, and overall power distribution of the Cubesat. Many of the electrical components will be donated to TJ from commercial partners. As such, a majority of the focus on the team will be connecting components and making sure that the system works correctly in an integrated manner. This will be accomplished through the development of a Helmholtz coil for testing attitude control, the construction of a clean room, and other electrical tests.

TJHSST

• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a Northern Virginia public magnet high school. The official site of TJHSST can be found here.
• In 2013, TJHSST became the first high school worldwide to succesfully launch a CubeSat into space, with the TJ3Sat project, which can be found here.
• 3 years later in 2016, the work on TJ's next satellite officially begun with TJ REVERB.

Balloon Test

The balloon launch was a success, reaching altitudes over 18,000 meters and successfully transmitting data! We’d like to share what worked, what we’ve learned, and what needs improvement. We compared data from the two sets of sensors onboard, the Raspberry Pi and the NSL eyepod, to see how reliable and accurate the data is. Both systems generally agree on altitude and temperature.

We compared data from the two sets of sensors onboard, the Raspberry Pi and the NSL eyepod, to see how reliable and accurate the data is. Both systems generally agree on altitude and temperature. The Pi’s altimeter was off by 3,000 meters from the eyepod’s altimeter at the peak. This might be because the Pi’s altimeter was pressure-based and might not have been properly calibrated the day of the launch while the eyepod’s altimeter was based on GPS. The temperature readings from the Pi suddenly jumped and remained elevated for around 15 minutes before returning to normal, likely due to instrument failure. The magnetic field and acceleration data from the Pi were random, as expected from a freely rotating balloon. Still, the lack of outliers demonstrate that these sensors are functional. The GPS data from the eyepod had no apparent issues, allowing us to construct the visuals of the balloon’s path below. Some of the eyepod data remains to be analyzed, but so far, the eyepod appears to be a viable tool for data collection moving forward! The Raspberry Pi had some irregularities, but with some adjustments, it can provide reliable data and be a secondary source for temperature, altitude, and position measurements.We compared data from the two sets of sensors onboard, the Raspberry Pi and the NSL eyepod, to see how reliable and accurate the data is. Both systems generally agree on altitude and temperature. The Pi’s altimeter was off by 3,000 meters from the eyepod’s altimeter at the peak. This might be because the Pi’s altimeter was pressure-based and might not have been properly calibrated the day of the launch while the eyepod’s altimeter was based on GPS. The temperature readings from the Pi suddenly jumped and remained elevated for around 15 minutes before returning to normal, likely due to instrument failure. The magnetic field and acceleration data from the Pi were random, as expected from a freely rotating balloon. Still, the lack of outliers demonstrate that these sensors are functional. The GPS data from the eyepod had no apparent issues, allowing us to construct the visuals of the balloon’s path below. Some of the eyepod data remains to be analyzed, but so far, the eyepod appears to be a viable tool for data collection moving forward! The Raspberry Pi had some irregularities, but with some adjustments, it can provide reliable data and be a secondary source for temperature, altitude, and position measurements.