AggieSat2 Mission Statement
Two spacecraft shall qualify two DRAGON GPS receivers and demonstrate crosslink communications
LONESTAR Program Overview
AggieSat Lab, in conjunction with the University of Texas at Austin, will be developing a series of 4 pairs of satellites for the Johnson Space Center's Low earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendevous and docking program. The LONESTAR program is scheduled to be an eight year program, with the final (4th) pair of satellites in this series (LONESTAR 4) demonstrating Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking capabilities. The first three satellite pairs (LONESTAR 1-3) will demonstrate technologies required to attain the ARD demonstration. This means the first three satellites will be required to test the sensors, computers, navigation system, control system, communications system, GPS, etc., that will need to fly on Mission 4.
Project Overview
AggieSat2 will be one of two satellites developed for LONESTAR 1, and its mission will be to test the crosslink communications system and GPS system necessary to accomplish the ARD demonstration. The other satellite of the pair will be named PARADIGM, and it will be designed at the University of Texas. Collectively, these satellites will be known as the DRAGONSat mission. Each of the two satellites will have identical capabilities, but will not necessarily be identical in design.
AggieSat2 is being designed as a picosatellite, a smaller version of the satellites developed for the Nanosat competitions, and it will have several essential mission requirements. Primarily, AggieSat2 will serve as a bus for a NASA provided global positioning system. After deployment from the picosat launcher which is mounted in the Space Shuttle Orbiter's cargo bay, AggieSat2 will separate from PARADIGM and ready itself to begin data collection. In the weeks following deployment, AggieSat2 will independently record and downlink 180 minutes of raw GPS data as commanded by the mission control team. The mission will be considered a success after this information has been completely received by the ground control station.
Students working on the AggieSat2 mission are getting the unique experience of planning a co-operative mission to satisfy the requirements set forth by NASA's Johnson Space Center. Students have already designed and built working models of the AggieSat2 system and critical design reviews have reflected this progress. AggieSat2 is scheduled for launch with STS-127 on board the Space Shuttle Endevour in early 2009.
Project Timeline
| Event | Deadline | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering Design Unit | June 2008 | Completed |
| EDU Testing | June/July 2008 | In Progress |
| Flight Delivery | September/October 2008 |
To ensure AggieSat2 meets the expectations of NASA and AggieSat Lab administrators, a time line was constructed to establish critical deadlines that must be meet for project completion. These deadlines are both internal requirements and requirements established by NASA such that AggieSat2 can be thoroughly tested before its expected launch date.