RockSat-C 2012

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WVU Rocketeers 2012Conceptual Design Review

John Hailer, Ben Province, Justin YorickAdvisors: Dimitris Vassiliadis, Marc Gramlich

West Virginia UniversityOctober 4rd, 2012

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RockSat-C 2012

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CoDR Presentation Contents

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• Section 1: Mission Overview– Mission Overview– Theory and Concepts– Mission Requirements– Concept of Operations– Expected Results

• Section 2: Design Overview– Design Overview

RockSat-C 2012

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CoDR Presentation Contents

• Section 3: Management– Team Organization– Schedule– Budget– Mentors (Faculty, industry)

• Section 4: Conclusions

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RockSat-C 2012

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Mission Overview

• Mission statement: Develop a payload which will measure the following properties of the space environment (up to110 km) during the RockSat C flight.– High-energy particles– Low-energy (plasma) density– Magnetic field– Gravitational field– Flight Dynamics– GHG experiment– Dusty Plasma Experiment

• Goal: To measure and analyze data from the flight, and compare the results to known atmospheric models.

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Mission Overview: Theory• High energy particles constantly barrage our atmosphere.

Measuring the intensity of various species of these particles can reveal much about the source of these emissions, as well as the atmosphere’s composition.

• Plasma conditions continuously change in the ionosphere with altitude and time of day. At these given times, the plasma fields resonate at different frequencies. The experiment will compare the instantaneous plasma density and frequency distribution to current atmospheric models.

• Earth’s magnetic field decreases as a function of distance from the center of the earth. The magnetic field reflects and traps many charged particles. Measuring field intensity can yield information required to accurately model this phenomena

• Comparison between these measurements and current models will show if assumptions made in these models hold up to an extent that they can be accurately used in future atmospheric applications.

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Payload Experiments

-Brief overview of science goals:1. Flight Dynamics: identify the dynamics

of rocket flight with on-board instrumentation- Acceleration- Rotation- Compare with WFF telemetry

2. Greenhouse Gases: measure concentrations of climate-forcing gasses- Measurement of water vapor, carbon

dioxide, and other greenhouse gas concentrations

- These measurements necessitate access to an atmospheric port

Payload Experiments (cont.)

3. Cosmic-ray particles: - Identify intensity of cosmic rays during rocket

flight- Use an array of Geiger counters

4. Plasma frequencies in radio spectrum:

- Rocket apogee of 115-120 km: access to ionospheric E region peak (during daytime)

- Experiment measures plasma frequency (~1.3 MHz, simple function of density) and harmonics Atmosphere becomes ionized above 85 km

- Rocket Apogee of 115-120 km: ionosphere E region

- Also considering adding an experiment to measure the effects of microgravity on a dusty plasma.

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Mission Overview: Mission Requirements

General:• Apogee: an altitude of ~120 km will allow cosmic-ray

and plasma sensors to sample sufficient count levels.• Time: dawn-dusk launch preferable, due to daytime

decrease of E-region peak; decrease is greatest in June due to seasonal variation.

• Data Acquisition: data intake rates should provide a resolution greater than 80m.

• Electronics: payload voltages and currents must meet WFF safety guidelines.

• Weight/Mass Distribution: The payload must weigh less than 88N (20lbs), while the COG must lie within 1cm of the central rotation axis.

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Mission Overview: Mission Requirements (cont.)

Sensor and Payload Specifications:• Flight Dynamics: flight camera requires access to

optical port

• Radio Plasma Experiment: probe requires access to special port. Scanning range should have a bandwidth of at least 1MHz (1.2-2.2MHz). Swept frequency of 1-6MHz preferred with a resolution of greater than 10kHz

• Green House Gases: experiment will require access to dynamic atmospheric port. Sensors for this experiment must be able to detect key GHG’s even in relatively low concentrations (ppm).

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Mission Overview: Mission Requirements (cont.)

Minimum Success Criteria:• All sensors must activate and provide information at

their assigned times.• 45 seconds of low noise acquired data provides

atmospheric information over a useable range of altitudes.

• Data must be consistent enough to provide insight into accuracy of atmospheric models. Such information will be useful in future applications of aerospace engineering and radio communications by allowing designers to have detailed information about particle conditions in the lower atmosphere.

• Successful experiments with GHG detection entail accurate species concentration profiles, which could provide useful information for climate scientist interested in changes in lower atmospheric composition.10

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RockSat 2011: Concept of Operations

h=0 km (T=00:00)Launch; G-switch activation

h=75 km (T=01:18) RPE ON

Dusty Plasma ON

H=.6 km (T=00:3)Entire payload fully activated

except for RPE, Dusty Plasma

h=75 km (T=04:27)RPE OFFDusty Plasma OFF

h=117 km (T=02:53)Apogee

h=0 km (T=13:00)Splashdown

h=10.5 km (T=05:30)Chute deploys

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Payload Design Examples

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• Sample hardware for various experiments:

Measured Variable

Instrument Brand Model

Trajectory Inertia Measurement Unit (IMU)

Analog Devices ADIS16405

Z accelerometer Analog Devices ADIS16227

Magnetic Flux Density Micromagnetometer Honeywell HMC2003

Visual Observations Camera GoPro Hero

Radiation Geiger Tubes Images Company

Note: models cited are representative only. Actual models may comprise several functions on a single component, similar to an inertial sensor.

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Mission Overview: Expected Results: Cosmic Rays

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• Geiger count rates (2010 flight):

• In 2012 payload, such profiles will depend on detector resolution and sensitivity.

369 s: Chutes deploy910 s: Splashdown

173 s: Apogee

39 s: Orion burnout

124 s: Payload separation

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Mission Overview: Plasma: Expected Results

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• Expect at least one or two peaks:– Plasma frequency– Gyrofrequency – Other frequencies possible (upper-hybrid frequency)

• Gyrofrequency varies little with altitude, plasma frequency significantly:

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

0.00E+00

5.00E+05

1.00E+06

1.50E+06

2.00E+06

2.50E+06

3.00E+06

3.50E+06

4.00E+06

4.50E+06

Frequency Variability

f_ce (Hz)

f_pe (Hz)

f_uh (Hz)

Altitude (km)

Fre

qu

en

cy

(H

z)

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Design Overview

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• For most experiments (flight, Cosmic-ray experiment, Geiger counters, etc) heritage elements from previous WVU Rocksat flights will be integrated into this year’s design.– Structure: Makrolons, brackets, and

mounting hardware.– PCBs: main and breakout boards will be

revised to accommodate differences in sensor specs.

– Circuits and sensors: revised to accommodate updated experiments.

• Radio/plasma experiment: significant changes in design planned

• Flight Dynamics and camera will likely remain largely unchanged with new redundant fail safe systems built in

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FD/RPE Functional Block

Power Supply

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Design Overview: Payload Layout

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Flight Dynamics Board

RPE Radio Board

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Design Overview: RockSat-C 2012 User’s Guide Compliance

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• Predicted volume: payload expected to fit in requested volume (full canister)

• Activation: standard, based on G-switches, and compliant with WFF no-volt regulation. No early activation needed

• RBF straps for power system

• Shorting wires: patterned after RockSat 2009-2010

Mass Budget

Mass of 2011 Payload +2.5 kg

Minus CLE Experiment -0.2 kg

Plus two Makrolon plates +0.5kg

Mass available for additional experiments +3.0 kg

Total allowable payload mass (excluding canister) +5.8 kg (12.7 lbs)

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Management/ Facilities

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• Student Design Team: J. Hailer, B. Province, J. Yorick

• Advisors: D. Vassiliadis, M.Gramlich

• Construction and testing performed at WVU Engineering and Physics departments.

• Collaboration with ATK for external payload testing.

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• The mission of the WVU payload for RockSat C 2012 is to measure several properties of the space environment above 100 km. To facilitate mission development, previous structures and electronics will be modified or redesigned from prior WVU RockSat missions.

• At this time, the team is considering adding more experiments to the payload.

• At this time, the team resources are being focused on the detailed development of the experiments outlined in this presentation.

Conclusion

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Questions?