Shared CubeSat Bus Approach for the design and development of the Sapienza S5Lab nano-satellites

This paper goes over the shared bus approach that is used by the team of the S5Lab (Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory) of Sapienza University of Rome. The team has launched three nanosatellites in orbit which share most of the bus, with the intent of easing development and maximizing the educational return of the missions, from conception to operations. Using the same bus and infrastructure allows to focus more time on the development and testing of the payload and reduces operational hurdles through the experience acquired from previous flights. Currently, the LEDSAT and WildTrackCube-SIMBA satellites are in orbit, with the bus based on what was learnt from the 1KUNS-PF mission, and the team is preparing to launch the GreenCube 3U CubeSat.