CubeSAT and Arduino Newbie

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hello, I am currently doing a CubeSAT Project and from my own research, these are the components I need for the Payload mission for the project.

On the CubeSAT:

Battery - 3.7 850 Li-Ion Battery
Charging Module - TP4056 MicroUSB/Type-C 5V 1A
Communication System - LoRa SX1278 RA02 RF433
Antenna - Compatible Dual Antenna with CM4
Camera Module - ESP32-CAM
GPS Sensor - GY-NEO6MV2
OnBoard Computer - ESP32
Gyroscope Sensor - GY521 (MPU6050)

Questions that I have:

  1. Do I need to buy FTDI to communicate with my camera? or any alternatives.
  2. Do I need another pair of LoRa and ESP32 to communicate the CubeSAT with my Ground Control Station (Laptop)

Thank you for reading, sorry if im too noob :frowning:
Cubesat Photo

2

Well the image is blank.

You seem to have a lot of hardware to connect to an ESP32CAM which has a very limited number of GPIO pins available.

3

No, no, it's an image of the part of space where the satellite will be orbiting :wink:

1 Like
4

Apologies will edit now.

5

Aside from ESP32 CAM, which is what provided for me, is there any way to work around this that may not include buying a separate camera and having another OnBoard computer? I wish to have every components connected together with its own PCB as well.

6

Do some research ?

How many GPIO pins are needed to drive the LoRa device ?
How many GPIO pins are needed to drive the GY521 device ?
How many GPIO pins are needed to drive the GPS device ?

Then how many spare pins does the ESP32CAM have, assuming your not using the SD card ?

7

Cool project.
I think you need also:

  • solar panel
  • an 'attitude stabilization device' ( when the cubesat is deployed it could start rotating around any axis, and communication won't be 'happy' of this )

regarding question 1) not sure what you mean ( I assume for FTDI you mean some usb to serial converter, so I'd say no you don't need it ). Consider also that lora communication is wery slow and you won't be able to download the image ( easily at least )

regarding question 2) yes you need an esp32+lora on your ground station ( I have a heltec esp32 lora board programmed with tinyGS and can receive cubesats with the standard antenna, unbeliavable! )

Consider that the cubesat 'lives' ( generally for short time ) in a quite hard environment, so the components you are using should be 'rugged enough' to withstand those conditions.

8

As for some general pointers, and based on experience;

Commercial of the shelf components (COTS) are fine for Qubesats etc, which generally have a short orbit life these days. No real need for hardened components.

Make sure the boards and components you use are vacuum safe, a lot of plastics, such as PVC wires, some switches and connectors outgas in a vacuum and that is bad, it can mess up solar panels etc.

Satellites experience a lot of vibration at launch so you need to be really sure all the stuff is well secured.

Strong magnets are OK to prevent a satellite spinning or tumbling on release into orbit.

The ESP32 does use a lot of power even when its not doing a lot, other micros might be better. Remember small satellites have small solar panels.

If the satellite is close overhead, say 200-300km, then image transfer over LoRa should be possible, just keep the image size low.

Standard GPSs like the NEO6MV are configured to stop working at high speed and altitude. Most small satellites will be at an altitude of circa 250km and traveling at 28,000+kmph

If your charging a lithium battery make sure you turn off charging below 0C.

Make sure you have two way comms, ground to orbit, to allow you to turn off transmissions if there is a problem.

Have some form of hardware, independent of the micro, to reset everything if the micro crashes.

Test, test and test again.

9

You might find interesting a series of Youtube videos on building a cubesat for under $1000 in parts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8TSiKHZbC8&t=109s

As I watched each episode, I was impressed by the level of engineering needed to do this right. To me the most interesting parts were the power system and attitude control (magnetorquers and such).