Joint Australian Engineering (Micro) Satellite (JAESat) - A GNSS Technology Demonstration Mission

Werner Enderle, Cameron Boyd, Jan A. King

Australian Space Research Institute Ltd (ASRI), PO Box 3890, Manuka ACT 2603, Australia.
Cooperative Research Centre for Satellite Systems at the Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia.
Southern Cross Space and Communications PTY. LTD, Lake Weyba QLD, Australia.

DOI:                 

Abstract

JAESat is a joint micro-satellite project between Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) and other national and international partners, i.e. Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Satellite Systems (CRCSS), Kayser-Threde GmbH, Aerospace Concepts and Auspace which contribute to this project. The JAESat project is conducted under the leadership of the Queensland University of Technology. The main objectives of the JAESat mission are the design and development of a micro satellite in order to educate and train students and also to generate a platform in space for technology demonstration and conduction of research on a low cost basis. The main research objectives of JAESat are the in-orbit test and validation of the SPARx receiver and its performance, the performance of the on-board Orbit Determination (OD) concept, the test of an integrated GPS-Star Sensor system concept for a 3-axis Attitude Determination (AD) and its related algorithms and also various aspects of Relative Navigation. The aspects of atmospheric research will not be addressed within this article. This article will describe the overall JAESat concept and concentrate on the QUT space applications receiver SPARx and related GPS software concepts for OD and AD. The test environment for the development of GNSS space applications will be outlined and finally simulations and respective results including GPS hardware in the loop will be presented and discussed.

Keywords

Spacecraft navigation, attitude determination, orbit determination, GPS space receiver, GNSS space applications, micro satellites

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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