2017.A.4.2. HAVELSAT and BEAGLESAT: Turkey’s 2U CubeSATs

Author(s)

Ali Telli (1)
Kamil Arslakoz (1)
İsmail Arslan (1)
Alim Rüstem Aslan (2)

Havelsan Inc., Turkey
İstanbul Technical University, Turkey

Session

A.4

Keywords

Cubesat, QB50

Abstract

QB50 is an international CubeSat project funded by European Union initiated and leaded by of Von Karman Institute in Belgium. The mission will demonstrate the possibility of launching a network of 50 CubeSats in a string of pearls configuration for multi-point, in-situ, long-duration exploration of the lower thermosphere (90-380km) for re-entry. Moreover, technologies and miniaturized sensors will also be demonstrated by the mission.

Space agencies are not pursuing a multi-spacecraft network for in-situ measurements in the lower thermosphere because the cost of a network of 50 satellites built to industrial standards would be extremely high and not justifiable in view of the limited orbital lifetime. No atmospheric network mission for in-situ measurements has been carried out in the past or is planned for the future. A network of satellites for in-situ measurements in the lower thermosphere can only be realised by using very low-cost satellites, and CubeSats are the only realistic option.

HAVELSAT and BeEagleSAT are 2U CubeSats that are part of QB50 project and developed in Turkey. HAVELSAT is developed by Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and HAVELSAN Inc. On the other hand, BeEagleSAT is a joint project of ITU, HAVELSAN Inc., Turkish Air Force Academy and SABANCI University along with SMEs.

The BeeagleSat/HAVELSAT are both carrying multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (mNLP) instrument which is designed to study low energy ambient electron populations in the upper atmosphere. MNLP is used to measure accumulated charge on four extended probes from the electron population and sends this data to the hosting satellite’s on board computer (OBC). The BeeagleSat also houses a secondary science unit, namely X-Ray detector developed to measure the high energy X-ray background at a range of altitudes at low Earth orbit of the BeEagleSat.

The launch is planned in March 2017. In this paper, the subsystems of these two satellites, their development and launch phases as well as their mission payloads will be discussed in detail.