S-Band Low Earth Orbit Reconfigurable Small Satellite System for Space Environment Sensing

The applications of additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have rapidly increased in industry sectors in recent years. In combination with the ever-increasing number of new constellations of communications satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), the innovative technology presents promising qualities for space industry applications, particularly for radio frequency (RF) systems. This paper presents a S-band telemetry and data backup system for space radiation experiments for LEO to analyze the effects of long-term exposure of materials to the harsh space environment. The design presented in this paper is based on Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components, presenting approximately an average and peak power consumption of 0.8 W, and 1 W, respectively, while transmitting the peak configurable RF output power of 20 dBm. Including an AM radiation shielding, the system can be accommodated in 76 mm × 76 mm × 46 mm. Its modular design makes this system fully configurable, allowing a wide variety of applications. In this work, all the on-board measurements are backed up on an on-board memory card with error correction capabilities, as well as downlinked, enabling the possibility to monitor the total absorbed radiation during the experiment, as well as the communications link impact of the degradation of the on-board RF materials and circuit components. The system can be commanded while in orbit to reconfigure on-board sensor measurements and transceiver parameters.