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The Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) is one of the four projects selected within ESA's SysNova competition to develop a small satellite for scientific and technology demonstration purposes to be deployed by a mother ship around the Moon. The mission utilizes a 12U form-factor CubeSat which carries the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument capable of detecting light flashes in the visible spectrum to continuously monitor and process the meteoroids impacts. In this paper, we will describe the mission concept and focus on the performance of a novel navigation concept using Moon images taken as byproduct of the LUMIO-Cam operations. This new approach will considerably limit the operations burden on ground, aiming at autonomous orbit-attitude navigation and control. Furthermore, an efficient and autonomous strategy for collection, processing, categorization, and storage of

Stand-alone interplanetary CubeSats require primary propulsion systems for orbit maneuvering and precise trajectory control. The current work focuses on the design and performance characterization of the combined chemical-electric propulsion systems that shall enable a stand-alone 16U CubeSat mission on a hybrid high-thrust-low-thrust trajectory from a Supersynchronous Geostationary Transfer Orbit to a circular orbit about Mars. The high-thrust chemical propulsion is used to escape Earth and to initiate stabilization at Mars. The low-thrust electric propulsion is used in heliocentric transfer, ballistic capture, and circularization. For chemical propulsion, design and performance characteristics of a monopropellant thruster and feed system utilizing ADN-based FLP-106 propellant are presented. For electric propulsion, a performance model of an Iodine-propelled inductively coupled miniature radiofrequency ion thruster is implemented to calculate the variation of thrust, specific impulse and efficiency with input power. A power constrained low-thrust trajectory optimization utilizing the thruster performance model is pursued to calculate the transfer time, ∆V and the required propellant mass for fuel-optimal and time-optimal transfers. Overall, the combined chemical-electric systems yield a feasible propulsion solution for stand-alone CubeSat missions to Mars that balances propellant mass and transfer time.

No abstract

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is one of the four projects selected within ESA's SysNova competition to develop a small satellite for scientific and technology demonstration purposes to be deployed by a mothership around the Moon. The mission utilizes a 12U form-factor CubeSat which carries the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument capable of detecting light flashes in the visible spectrum to continuously monitor and process the meteoroids impacts. In this chapter, we will describe the mission concept and focus on the performance of a novel navigation concept using Moon images taken as byproduct of the LUMIO-Cam operations. This new approach will considerably limit the operations burden on ground, aiming at autonomous orbit-attitude navigation and control. Furthermore, an efficient and autonomous strategy for collection, processing, categorization, and storage of payload data is also described to cope with the limited contact time and downlink bandwidth. Since all communications have to go via a lunar orbiter, all commands and telemetry/data will have to be forwarded to/from the mothership. This will prevent quasi-real-time operations and will be the first time for CubeSats