ESTELLE – Credit NanoSpace

The 2U ESTELLE will accommodate the QB50 scientific payload and an experimental miniaturized cold gas thruster module with four thrusters and 50 grams of fuel.

This mission is a partnership between Estonia, Sweden, Latvia and Slovenia. The general hardware design will improve upon the single unit ESTCube-1, launched on May 7, 2013.

Cold gas propulsion system is seen as a very attractive solution for the CubeSats, as the standard limits the use of pyrotechnics and high-pressure systems. The propulsion module, developed by NanoSpace, uses butane under 2-5 bar pressure. This should be in accordance with the next CubeSat standard revision. The 0.3 unit module will be located at the opposite end from the QB50 payload. It contains four thrusters, which are placed on the same side for maximum delta-v capability (40 m/s). This delta-v capability can be used to alternate the orbit in order to enhance the scientific return of the QB50 mission by extending the satellite’s lifetime.

ESTELLE Cold Gas Thruster – Credit NanoSpace

An experimental high data rate transmitter (HDRT) is envisaged if it fits within the system margins to include it on-board the satellite. It would operate on S, C or X band amateur radio frequencies and use BPSK modulation. Up to 10 Mbit/s data rates can be achieved with 3 W of operating power.

Proposing a UHF GMSK/BPSK downlinks up to 19k2 bps and a series of HDRT experiments including a 2.4 GHz downlink using GFSK/BPSK at up to 1Mbps, a 5.8 GHz downlink using GFSK and BPSK at up to 10Mbps and a 10 GHz downlink at up to 10 Mbp.

EstCube https://www.facebook.com/estcube

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) https://www.facebook.com/SSC.SwedishSpaceCorporation

NanoSpace http://www.sscspace.com/nanospace

Communication link design at 437.5 MHz for a nanosatellite
http://upcommons.upc.edu/pfc/bitstream/2099.1/19403/4/elec_2013_cantero_jorge.pdf