0254-6124/2020/40(4)-443–19 Chin. J. Space Sci.



SEYEDABADI M E, FALANGA M, AZAM M, BARESI N, FLÉRON R, JANTARACHOTE V, JUAREZ ORTIZ V A, JULCA
YAYA J J, LANGER M, MANUTHASNA S, MARTINOD N, MUGHAL M R, NOMAN M, PARK J, PIMNOO A, PRAKS
J, REYNERI L, SANNA A, ŞIŞMAN T Ç, SOME J, ULAMBAYAR T, YU Xiaozhou, DONG Xiaolong, BALDIS L. Science
missions using CubeSats. Chin. J. Space Sci., 2020, 40(4): 443-461. DOI:10.11728/cjss2020.04.443

Science Missions Using CubeSats

SEYEDABADI M E1 FALANGA M2,3 AZAM M4 BARESI N5 FLÉRON R6

JANTARACHOTE V7 JUAREZ ORTIZ V A8 JULCA YAYA J J8
LANGER M9 MANUTHASNA S10 MARTINOD N11 MUGHAL M R12,15
NOMAN M12 PARK J13 PIMNOO A14 PRAKS J15 REYNERI L16
SANNA A17 ŞIŞMAN T Ç18 SOME J4 ULAMBAYAR T19
YU Xiaozhou20 DONG Xiaolong2,21 BALDIS L2
1(Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, 100070 Beijing, China)

2(International Space Science Institute-Beijing, 100190 Beijing, China)

3(International Space Science Institute, 3012 Bern, Switzerland)

4(Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization, 1207 Dhaka, Bangladesh)

5(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space Astronautical Science, 252-5210 Tokyo, Japan)

6(Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark)

7(Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University,

90112 Songkhla, Thailand)

8(National Commission of Aerospace Research and Development, 15046 San Isidro, Peru)

9(Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany)

10(Mahanakorn University of Technology, 10530 Bangkok, Thailand)

11(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

12(Institute of Space Technology, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan)

13(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 34055 Daejeon, South Korea)

14(Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, 10210 Bangkok, Thailand)

15(Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland)

16(Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Polytechnic of Turin, 10129 Turin, Italy)

17(Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, 09042 Monserrato, Italy)

18(Department of Astronautical Engineering, University of Turkish Aeronautical Association, 06790 Ankara, Turkey)

19(Nanosatellite Development Laboratory, National University of Mongolia, 210646 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

20(Dalian University of Technology, 116024 Dalian, China)

21(National Space Science Center, 100190 Beijing, China)

Received May 8, 2020

E-mail: [Link]@[Link]
444 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

Abstract As the role of missions and experiments carried out in outer space becomes more and more essential
in our understanding of many earthly problems, such as resource management, environmental problems, and
disaster management, as well as space science questions, thanks to their lower cost and faster development
process CubeSats can benefit humanity and therefore, young scientists and engineers have been motivated
to research and develop new CubeSat missions. Not very long after their inception, CubeSats have evolved
to become accepted platforms for scientific and commercial applications. The last couple of years showed
that they are a feasible tool for conducting scientific experiments, not only in the Earth orbit but also in
the interplanetary space. For many countries, a CubeSat mission could prompt the community and young
teams around the world to build the national capacity to launch and operate national space missions. This
paper presents an overview of the key scientific and engineering gateways opened up to the younger scientific
community by the advent and adaptation of new technology into CubeSat missions. The role of cooperation
and the opportunities for capacity-building and education are also explored. Thus, the present article also
aims to provide useful recommendations to scientists, early-career researchers, engineers, students, and anyone
who intends to explore the potential and opportunities offered by CubeSats and CubeSats-based missions.
Key words CubeSat, Space science, Small satellites for space science, Education, Earth observation
Classified index Classified index P 35

0 Introduction cal programs, to work together on the agile develop-

ment and operation of space missions. In fact, as the
Since their inception, CubeSats have enjoyed wide- “build-to-operations” cycle for CubeSats is less than
spread acceptance in the space science communi- three years, this allows university students to be in-
ty, currently featuring a growing developer list. In volved in its development from its inception to the
fact, CubeSats can help reduce the costs of technical actual operating mission.
developments and scientific investigations, therefore In this paper, we will focus on identifying suit-
lowering the entry-barriers to organizing space mis- able key sciences that can be developed for CubeSats
sions. As a result, CubeSats’ popularity in countries science missions, what are the CubeSats’ feasibilities
with fewer resources to be devoted to space science for space development countries, on developing Cube-
has grown exponentially in the past few years, thus Sats space education systems to establish cooperative
adding enormous value to education, researchers’ ex- programs not only for the purpose of training, but
perience, and collaborative relationships. also in view of the prospective collaboration in scien-
As of January 2020, over 1200 CubeSats have tific or application missions, and on exploring the re-
been launched worldwide, and for some countries, this ports from the training section.
constituted a considerable milestone, as it sometimes The synergy between communities is the key
even represented the very first national satellites sent to advertise and improve CubeSats’ capabilities, ex-
into space. Producing one’s own satellites is evident- panding the nowadays relatively limited but steadily
ly considered a national achievement and a source of increasing application of these technologies for scien-
national pride by each country, and coupled with rea- tific goals. In particular, we are especially interested
listic and focused goals, such satellites can efficiently in CubeSats that could potentially lead to break-
help overcome the difficulties implied by a small re- through discoveries.
search budget and little or no experience in the field The answers to the questions on how to design
of space technology. Small satellites thus represent a CubeSat, why CubeSats are needed, and what is
an ideal opportunity for students, engineers, and sci- most important for a space mission can be all sum-
entists in different disciplines, including software de- marized in the fact that, according to the specifici-
velopment for on-board and ground computers, en- ties of a mission, a personalized manpower capability,
gineering, and management of sophisticated techni- mission-related financial resources, as well as a targe-
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 445

ted organization management strategy is required. Modularity as well as relatively low costs make
When it comes to the rationale behind the CubeSats a great opportunity for institutions interes-
launch of a CubeSat, a good and stable team repre- ted both in the scientific and engineering goals achiev-
sents an essential factor, together with a sound know- able with these small satellites’ technology, an aspect
ledge of CubeSats’ development engineering, the sub- which is already leading to the increase of small satel-
systems of CubeSats, as well as of the experiments lites developers. Compared to large satellites, small
targeted. Last but not least, it is critical to be fami- satellites entail low development costs and offer the
liar with some other important elements of the mis- opportunity to carry out scientific and technological
sion, such as the launcher, frequency allocation, law, tests over a short period of time (circa three years).
import/export regulations. Last but not least, in recent years small satel-
In this paper, we summarize in four sections the lites have also become a tool used to train students
primary takeaways concerning CubeSats, the recom- and give them a general understanding of satellite
mendations of researchers, engineers, and scientists to systems.
newcomers in the field, and the relevance of interna- For all these reasons and thanks to CubeSats’
tional collaboration for the development of CubeSats- interdisciplinary potential and varied approaches, we
based missions as well as for an enhanced internation- will now explore some CubeSats-based projects from
al equilibrium. Therefore, the present article aims to four different points of views: physics, science, engi-
provide the opportunity to learn more about Cube- neering, and education.
Sats’ architecture, their development, structure and 1.1 Physics-oriented Analysis
characteristics, their launching and deployment tech- “CubeSats for Science Missions” from a physics point
niques, design criteria, space engineering, as well as of view: what can we do and when? The answer
the current status of several countries’ advanced stu- to the usage of CubeSats for Science Missions from
dies and missions relying on CubeSats’ technology. a different perspective, i.e., the one of physics and
from the work on mass reduction rates for space-
1 An Overview crafts is discussed, see “Small satellites for space
science – A COSPAR scientific roadmap”[1] and “Will
A close, synergistic, and interdisciplinary collabora- CubeSats introduce a Moore’s law to space science
tion between space scientists, engineers, and the space missions?”[2].
industry lays the groundwork for CubeSats’ studies As spacecraft subsystems become smaller, ad-
and missions, tied up by the cross-fertilization and en- vanced studies may be performed with ever-lighter
couragement based on the realization of experiments spacecrafts. This opens up new possibilities in space
and the achievement of cost-containment and cycle science missions. With a fixed-mass budget mission
time-reduction. This way forward will be achieved designer, it may be possible to aim at a variety of mis-
by exploiting at most the Commercial Off-the-Shelf sion approaches. The available mass may be split up
(COTS) components, currently underperforming in into many small identical units and these units may
the space environment, but with the potential to pro- act as a swarm and cover a larger area or volume than
vide high-impact and radical transformations in space a monolithic spacecraft of equivalent mass. Alterna-
application. tively, a fraction of the mass budget could be reserved
Ambitious CubeSats projects must be based on for small advanced probes that could extend the base-
international collaboration between institutes, na- line or reach of a larger spacecraft. The probes may
tional space agencies, as well as private companies. even be expendable allowing for more daunting mis-
Sharing the scientific concepts of the mission with the sions. In Figure 1 the different mission scenarios using
world is the key to creating the perfect environment CubeSats are illustrated.
to achieve great scientific discoveries. A typical argument against small spacecrafts is
446 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

Fig. 1 Illustrations of mission scenarios using CubeSats

that the aperture size dictates the resolution of detec-

tors. From the Fraunhofer diffraction theory in the Fig. 2 Optical resolution at 550 nm as function of

equation below, it is evident that a way around this distance for the Hubble space telescope and a Dove
2λ satellite from Planet Labs Inc
issue is to go closer α ≈ , where α is the angular
D
resolution of a telescope with aperture size D, where- Here P0 is the mass required for a certain performance
as λ represents the wavelength of the observed light. at time 0, Pt is the mass required for the same per-
As an example, the resolution of the Hubble space formance at time t, n is the reduction rate. The stu-
telescope and a 3U Dove satellite from the Planet dy showed mass reduction rates of approximately 127
Labs Inc is compared. Figure 2 shows the resolu- months (10.5 years) prior to the introduction of Cube-
tion vs distance for both spacecrafts, with Didymos Sats and a rate of 36 months for Earth observation
as a target example. Didymos closest approach to satellites after the CubeSats have appeared. A much
the Earth (and Hubble space telescope) is roughly smaller study conducted on beepsats, i.e. satellites
10−2 AU or 1.5 million km. As seen, the Dove satel- that only emits a beacon, showed a mass reduction
lite will surpass the best-case resolution of Hubble rate of 55 months.
space telescope when the Dove spacecraft is closer 1.2 Science-driven Projects
than about 2×10−4 AU or 30 000 km. One of the approaches adopted to gain access to space
The study “Will CubeSats Introduce a Moore’s science is to answer science questions by means of al-
Law to Space Missions?”[2] looks at the mass evo- ready available technologies, and some examples of
lution of spacecrafts over time and it refers to the such kind of projects are presented below.
analysis of the capability and mass of similar class The SNIPE (Small scale magNetospheric and
missions, used as a figure of merit. In other words, Ionospheric Plasma Experiment) mission for space
the mass required to obtain a certain performance is weather research developed by the Solar and Space
calculated for historic missions, but not all mission Weather Group, KASI, Korea, is going to be launched
classes that were studied revealed a mass evolution in 2021 into a polar orbit at an altitude of 500 km
similar to Moore’s law. However, the Earth observa- with an orbital high-inclination of 97.7◦ . The scienti-
tion missions operating in the optical band did show a fic goal of SNIPE is to identify temporal and spatial
mass reduction tendency similar to Moore’s law. The variations of small-scale plasma structures in iono-
equation below shows the relation. sphere and magnetosphere. SNIPE consists of four
P0 6U-nanosatellite, i.e., each one made of 10 cm×10 cm
Pt = .
2t/n ×60 cm cubic units (about 10 kg for each spacecraft),
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 447

and this constellation is a formation flying and slow- of X-ray monitors (Swift, INTEGRAL, Agile, and
ly separated from tens to several hundreds of kilome- Fermi) and the next ones.
ters for six months, while the spacecraft design life- Arcmin localization of most GRB with the flux
time is at least greater than one year (with a scienti- of a few photons (cm−2 ·s−1 ) is therefore the final goal
fic operation time of six months). The SNIPE mis- of the HERMES project. The HERMES concept is
sion is equipped with scientific payloads, which can based on relatively small but innovative X-ray de-
measure the following geophysical parameters: densi- tectors (collecting area in the band between a few
ty/temperature of cold ionospheric electrons, energe- keV to a few hundred keV of 50∼100 cm2 ), hosted
tic (about 100 keV) electron flux, and magnetic field by 3U CubeSats (10 cm×10 cm×30 cm, weight around
vectors. All the payloads will have a high temporal 5∼6 kg), launched in equatorial Low Earth Orbit
resolution (better sampling rates than 10 Hz). (LEO). The transient position is obtained by study-
The science targets are as follows. ing the delay during the arrival times of the signal
(1) Spatial scale and energy dispersion of elec- upon different detectors, placed hundreds/thousands
tron microbursts. of kilometers away (see Figure 3). This large increase
(2) Temporal and spatial variations of plasma of the discovery space on the physics/astrophysics of
trough during magnetic storms. high-energy transients can lead to breakthrough dis-
(3) Temporal and spatial variations of electron coveries in at least other four broad areas: (i) GRB
density and temperature in polar cap patches. inner engines; (ii) GRB jet composition; (iii) GRB ra-
(4) Measuring the length of coherence for bub- diative processes; (iv) the granular structure of space-
bles/blobs. time.
(5) EMIC waves at the top of ionosphere. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lau-
Last but not least, this mission constitutes a sanne, Switzerland (EPFL), together with the Paul
beautiful example to have a synergy with other Scherrer Institute in Switzerland (PSI), is working on
already existing space weather missions, such as a joint mission concept called CHESS (Constellation
THEMIS, MMS, ERG, and GOES, as well as ground of High Energy Swiss Satellites), a student mission
observations like EISCAT and CARISMA networks. whose goal is to launch a constellation of four Cube-
An initiative for a science-driven swarm Cube- Sats for high-energy astrophysics studies in late 2021
Sat mission was put forward by the Department of (see Figure 4). It intends to bring together Swiss
Physics at University of Cagliari, Italy. With the first universities into a collaborative national project for
detected Gravitational Waves event (in August 2017,
GW170817) from merging neutron stars or merging of
a neutron stars with a black hole, related to a short
Gamma Ray Burst (GRBs), a new astrophysics er-
a has started, the so-called Multi-Messenger Astro-
physics. The operation of an efficient X-ray all-sky
monitor with good localization capability will have
a pivotal role on multi-messenger astrophysics in the
next decade. The mission idea, called High Energy
Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites (HERMES),
aims to detect and accurately localize GRBs and oth-
er high-energy transients, such as the counterparts
of GW events (merging of compact objects, super-
novae), that can be deployed in a few years, thus
bridging the gap between the aging, past generation Fig. 3 HERMES mission. Credits: [Link]
448 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

scientific research. The four identical nanosatellites is equipped with a solid rocket motor to decelerate
will embed a Hard X-Ray polarimeter developed at its relative velocity with respect to the Moon and
PSI, which is a novel, miniaturized detection system carry out the first lunar semi-hard landing (by the
developed for precise observations of the solar sys- project requirement, the touchdown speed shall be
tem, the Sun, and even fundamental astrophysical less than 100 m·s−1 ). Key technologies are being de-
processes occurring in distant galaxies. It will enable veloped and will be proven to enable cheap and fast
the simultaneous study of gamma-ray bursts and so- access to the surface of the Moon.
lar flares, including space weather phenomena. EQUULEUS is another technology demonstra-
With a carefully-synchronized timing between tor that will fly by with the natural satellite to reduce
the CHESS CubeSats, it will be able to determine the its orbital energy and eventually insert into synodic
direction of the detected Gamma-Ray Bursts and cor- resonant libration point orbits near the second Lag-
relate the event with potential Gravitational Waves rangian point of the Earth-Moon system. From this
measurements. It is worth noting that, since the privileged outpost, the spacecraft will study the lu-
project is work in progress, some aspects of it, valid nar flash impacts that occur on the far side of the
at the time of this writing and presented here, may Moon and help characterize the size and distribu-
have changed. tion of Near-Earth Asteroids with data and statis-
1.3 Engineering-driven Projects tics impossible to make with ground-based telescopes
Some of the recent activities involving deep-space ex- (see Figure 5). EQUULEUS will also study the cis-
ploration with CubeSats and/or small satellite plat- lunar dust environment and test key technology for
forms at ISAS/JAXA, Japan, are here investigated. future deep-space CubeSat missions, like a water re-
Specifically, the mission requirements and trajectory sistojet propulsion system capable of delivering up to
design of two 6U Japanese CubeSat missions that will 80 m·s−1 of Delta V (change in velocity).
fly as a piggyback project of NASA’s space launch The Mahidol University of Thailand recently
system during its maiden mission Artemis-1 were re- introduced a space exploration payload for a Cube-
viewed. The two CubeSats are named EQUULEUS Sat. The payload aims to detect the high-energy
and OMOTENASHI and they differ greatly in terms particles in space, cosmic ray, which will enable us to
of mission life span and objectives. OMOTENASHI understand the behavior and origin of the particles.
However, the key challenges include the development
of a payload to observe the particles, their direc-
tion, and their energy. The main mission consists of
3U CubeSat at an altitude of 600 km in a polar or-
bit with an energy detector optimized between 2 MeV

Fig. 4 CHESS 3U CubeSat constellation is a

constellation of 3U CubeSats developed by the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. Its goal is to
study high energy astrophysics with a hard X-ray
Compton polarimeter as main payload. Fig. 5 External view of the deployed EQUULEUS
Credits: CHESS mission nanosatellite. Picture credits: ISSL, JAXA
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 449

and 200 MeV energy range. Hence, the space explo- radio linear transponder as well as space pictures.
ration mission is the technological demonstration of Another example of a CubeSats’ based project
Cosmic-ray electron/positron detection in space. is to be found in the Institute of Space Technology,
Also, more engineering work was put forward by Islamabad, Pakistan, as it presents the CubeSats en-
the National Commission for Aerospace Research and gineers’ work related to the design of the magnetome-
Development (CONIDA), Peru, i.e. the microstrip ter unit for a university microsatellite and the design
antenna showing two models with circular polariza- of power subsystem for 3U CubeSat.
tion in the S and C band to be applied to the 3U For what concerns the participation of Mongo-
CubeSat, including the technology of the UHF and lia in the advancement of CubeSat studies and mis-
VHF transceiver board an S band down-converter kit sions, two main projects can be mentioned, i.e. the
for ground satellite stations as well as the installation BIRDS (Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite
and maintenance of satellite receiving stations L, X project) interdisciplinary satellite project and Mazaa-
band for weather forecast satellites AQUA, TERRA, lai, the first Mongolian satellite. The BIRDS project
METOP, and NOAA. is a multinational joint satellite plan for nonspace-
The Department of Electrical Engineering at the faring countries supported by Japan and joined by
Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, four countries, i.e. Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, and
Thailand, is contributing to the first 1U CubeSat de- Bangladesh, and that has already entered its fourth
veloped by King Mongkut’s University of Technology phase. In the context of this project, three Mon-
North Bangkok (KMUTNB) within the scope of the golian students have participated in the design, de-
KMUTNB Academic Challenge of Knowledge Satel- velopment, and operation of the country’s first-ever
lite activities in Thailand. The first entirely built in satellite. Figure 7 shows the Mazaalai satellite. This
Thailand 1U CubeSat is called KNACKSAT, develo- satellite was sent to ISS through the SpaceX CRS-11
ped in the context of the educational space technology mission and launched in a Dragon spacecraft on the
program of Thailand (see Figure 6). The university Falcon 9 rocket from NASA Kennedy Space Center.
team of five staff members and 25 students launched The satellite was in orbit around the Earth at an al-
the 1U CubeSat via the Spaceflight’s SSO-A (Sun titude of approximately 400 km and at an inclination
Synch Express) mission in September 2018. The stu- of around 51◦ , completing an orbit every 92 minutes.
dents’ activities and learning process included satel- Mazaalai is a 1U CubeSat launched on 3 June 2017,
lite design review, space environment testing, satellite
integration, ground station, and the signal elabora-
tion received from the satellite, among others. Two
other peculiar goals of this CubeSat were the amateur

Fig. 6 KNACKSAT satellite, an acronym for Fig. 7 Mazaalai satellite, named after the endangered
KMUTNB Academic Challenge of Knowledge Satellite, (and native to Mongolia) Gobi bear, is the first
is a 1U-CubeSat satellite (roughly 1.3 kg) developed by Mongolian satellite launched into outer space on a Low
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Earth Orbit (LEO) as part of the SpaceX
Bangkok (KMUTNB), Thailand CRS-11 mission in June 2017
450 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

as part of the SpaceX CRS-11 mission. It was in or- This disruption has brought new opportunities to
bit around the Earth at an altitude of approximately smaller and developing countries around the world
◦
400 km and at an inclination of around 51 , complet- to build national capacities to advance and run
ing an orbit every 92 minutes. Unfortunately, Maza- their own space assets. Affordable satellites bring
alai was deorbited on 11 May 2019. also viability to large scale commercial constellation
The Department of Astronautical Engineering projects and bring new opportunities for education
of the University of Turkish Aeronautical Associa- and science.
tion, Turkey, put forward the five in-orbit CubeSats The Foresail satellites for space science by the
of Turkey. Two of these CubeSats are included in the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Science
∗
QB50 project and involve science payloads of multi- represent a positive example of the development path
needle Langmuir probe in addition to an X-ray detec- from the first student-built spacecraft to the boom-
tor in one of the satellites. Furthermore, the science ing new space economy and national science satel-
mission plans of the University of Turkish Aeronau- lite programs in Finland. The development took
tical Association (UTAA) using CubeSats were dis- less than ten years and thus, the finnish example
cussed. The main science focus at UTAA is placed on exemplifies the most important benefits of current
gravitational physics and in accord with this target, space technology disruption and gives valuable in-
the mission ideas concern general relativity, especially sights to the countries and teams who find themselves
gravitomagnetism. on a similar path. The presentation showed the effi-
Following a formal analogy between electromag- cacy of well-channeled education to create economic
netism and linearized Einstein’s gravity, gravitomag- activity and boost science outcomes.
netism represents the kinetic effect of gravity just like The Foresail-1 CubeSat designed in Aalto Uni-
the magnetic effects for a moving electric charge. The versity, Finland, carries interesting science pay-
tests of gravitomagnetism were carried out with some loads and technology demonstrators to deorbit the
past satellite missions such as LAGEOS and Gravi- spacecraft[4,5]. The mission objective is to measure
ty Probe B. Nevertheless, there is always a definite radiation belt losses using particle telescope, demon-
need for tests of gravitomagnetism with improved ac- strate Coulomb Drag Propulsion (CDP) for deorbi-
curacy. With the advancement of chip scale atomic ting, test an ultra-sensitive magnetometer, and pre-
clocks, which are suitable for CubeSat applications, it pare for high radiation missions. The Particle Tele-
is easy to envision a CubeSat mission devoted to the scope payload has the requirement to orient its de-
study of gravitomagnetic effects, such as the frame- tector with shorter collimator towards the Sun, while
dragging effect due to Earth’s rotation. This effect the detector with longer collimator serves to scan the
creates a difference in the signal rotating in the di- environment. The CDP requires spin control for de-
rection of Earth’s rotation and in the opposite one. ploying and maintaining the tension of the tether to
A mission concept proposal can be the one described demonstrate the deorbiting (see Figure 8).
in Ruggiero and Tartaglia, 2009, where three satelli- Another analysis of the educational advantages
tes in GEO orbits create electromagnetic signals ro- of CubeSats was explored by the Technical University
tating around Earth in opposite directions and time of Munich, Germany (TUM), as three main points
the rotation of these signals[3] . were put forward.
1.4 Education-driven Projects (1) Architectural and engineering – overview of
Miniaturization of modern electronics and sensor university-built CubeSats.
technology has induced large-scale democratization of (2) CubeSat deep space exploration – targets and
space access, as satellites can be built and launched missions.
with only a fraction of the former multimillion costs. (3) CubeSat deep space exploration – design con-

∗ [Link]
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 451

siderations. 2016 and more than 80% of peer-reviewed papers

While the second and third presentations fo- reporting science on CubeSats were produced from
cused on deep space exploration with CubeSats, a 2010 (see Ref. [7]). This acceleration is fueled by the
goal pursued by more experienced teams and/or na- miniaturization and increased utilization of Commer-
tional space organizations, the first talk described cial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) parts and led to a more or
the main lessons learned during 13 years of Cube- less Moore’s law equivalent growth of Ground Sam-
Sat development at the Technical University of Mu- pling Distance (GSD), data rate, and data volume of
nich (TUM). CubeSats, once invented for educational small satellites between 1990 and 2010[7].
purposes in 1999 by Bob Twiggs of Stanford Univer- Over the past 13 years, three CubeSats were suc-
sity and Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic cessfully developed and launched at TUM. The en-
[6]
University , have evolved to become accepted plat- deavor started in 2006 with the development of First-
forms for scientific and commercial applications. This MOVE (see Figure 9 on the left). The main goal of
trend has recently accelerated and a 2016 report from First-MOVE, as in many CubeSat programs of that
the space studies board of the US National Academies time, was the hands-on education of undergraduate
of Sciences (NAS) found that over 80% of all science and graduate students and the ambitious design and
focused CubeSats were launched between 2010 and build of a 1U CubeSat verification platform[8,9] . The
First-MOVE was operated successfully during one
month after its launch in late 2013. Until then, more
than 70 students of different faculties had participa-
ted successfully in the project, with numerous educa-
tional and programmatic lessons learned[10] . Starting
in April 2015, the second CubeSat of TUM, called
MOVE-II (see Figure 9 on the right) was developed
and launched into space in late 2018[11].
Besides hands-on education, a scientific experi-
Fig. 8 Foresail-1 structure – It is a satellite mission of ment dedicated to novel solar cells is flown on this
the Finnish Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Space, satellite mission[12] . CubeSats, in discrepancy with
and its main payload is the Particle Telescope (PATE), their bigger counterparts, can be built, tested, and
developed by the University of Turku. Picture credits:
launched very fast. A clone of MOVE-II, called
Aalto University, Finland
MOVE-IIb was built and tested within six months,

Fig. 9 First-MOVE (left) and MOVE-II (right), both are 1U-CubeSats from Institute of Astronautics (LRT)
at the Technical University of Munich (TUM)
452 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

and launched into space in July 2019, within a year sity of Technology, Changguang Satellite Technolo-
from the start of the project. gy Co. Ltd., Tsinghua University, Wuhan Univer-
The most important lesson learned regarding sity, and Xinjiang Institute of Physics and Chemi-
university-built CubeSats (and also commercial mis- stry with the participation of more than 100 students
sions) is the relation between complexity and in the development. DUT-1 is the first 20 kg sub-
[13]
cost/schedule. As stated by McCurdy , the aggre- meter high-resolution remote sensing 12U CubeSat
gation of failures can be by explained by the Bearden and it includes three main payloads, i.e. a high-
rule: complexity in missions increases cost and deve- resolution camera (PAN/Multispectral low-cost and
lopment time, with a linear relationship for schedule high-resolution camera), electric propulsion (μCAT
and exponential for costs. If too much complexity is micro-electric propulsion system), and a space radio-
demanded out of a limited budget and schedule, it will meter to monitor the real-time dose rate in space.
lead to failures. This is especially worthwhile to be By means of state-of-the-art, innovative technology,
considered for interplanetary missions, as the launch concluding 3D printing structure, 3D printing launch
opportunities are rare and thus the demand for more pod, integrated ADCS, and reflect-array antenna,
experiments on one specific mission is usually high.
Looking at the results found by the aerospace com-
pany for SmallSat missions[14] , a zone with impaired
and failed missions, i.e. an area in which complexity
is too high with respect to schedule and cost, can be
seen in Figure 10.
The last couple of years showed that CubeSats
are a feasible tool for conducting scientific experi-
ments, both in the Earth orbit but also in the inter-
planetary space. The upcoming launch of Artemis-1
will deploy 13 CubeSats[15] with a broad variety of
planned experiments into interplanetary trajectories
and many future deep space launches will have re-
served volume for scientific CubeSats. Independent-
ly from the mission, CubeSat developers should also
keep the Bearden rule in mind when planning their
scientific missions.
As an example of CubeSats-based endeavors
that also function as a students’ educating tool, the
Fig. 10 Successful, failed and impaired SmallSat
DUT-1 (Small Bright Eye) (see Figure 11) mission
missions analyzed by the Aerospace Company[14]
is the result of the joint efforts of Dalian Univer-

Fig. 11 DUT-1 Satellite developed by Dalian University of Technology, Changguang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd.,
Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, and Xinjiang Institute of Physics and Chemistry. Credits: DUT
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 453

and quality features, such as a pointing accuracy Further details concerning the Polytechnic of
◦ −1
of < 0.05 and a transmission rate of 400 Mbit·s , Turin include: (i) the current activities on the de-
DUT-1 will be launched around June 2021. velopment of smart structures promoted by the uni-
Finally, the lessons learned during ten years of versity; (ii) improvement of the primary structure
teaching experience and development of CubeSats to of CubeSats by using the empty volume on lateral
students at Polytechnic of Turin can be summarized surfaces between lateral rods, increasing structural
in the following points (which are often overlooked by robustness, getting rid of useless items, and impro-
students): (i) the importance of good and exhaustive ving heat transfer; (iii) taking advantage of modern
documentation, which is often a quite difficult task model-based design in the development of subsys-
for students; (ii) the relevance of interdisciplinarity tems to decrease the complexity of students’ tasks
as students are typically focused on their specific field to make them accessible to master students and to
and often neglect other less known effects during the improve the quality of the documentation as well as
design of CubeSats; (iii) the significance of environ- testing and qualifications; (iv) the embedding of most
mental conditions in the selection of parts; (iv) the spacecraft functions inside the lateral surfaces of a
lack of appropriate redundancy or, even worse, the CubeSat and make them also structural and ther-
use of redundancy in an appropriate way; (v) the un- mal elements; (v) the improvement of the heat trans-
availability of parameters of several components (e.g. fer of mechanical interconnections between removable
rechargeable batteries); (vi) the lack of fault propaga- structural elements; (vi) the embedding of electrome-
tion effects in a complex design; (vii) the simpler, the chanical subsystems (e.g. magnetorquers or magnetic
better, as often simple procedures or circuits are more torquers, reaction wheels, batteries) inside the late-
effective than complex ones; (viii) the huge impact of ral skins of the spacecraft, making them thin enough;
the harness. (vii) the description of the operation and optimization
In practice, from the education point of view, of on-board telescopes (tutorial); (viii) the concepts of
much was learned rather during the design phase than attitude and optics required to understand the prin-
during the launch and operation. Some of the les- ciples of operation of a telescope, both reflective and
sons include: (i) interdisciplinary team set-up; (ii) refractive; (ix) the performance parameters of a tele-
ability to build a complex system; (iii) great amount scope (e.g. field of view, resolution); (x) the formulas
of knowledge and capabilities taught to students; to compute the focal length of telescopes and the rela-
(iv) students faced with the complexities of practi- tionships with telescope parameters; (xi) the physical
cal tasks. phenomena leading to image aberrations; (xii) the op-
Since design, manufacturing, test, and documen- timization of geometrical parameters to improve tele-
tation account for 90% of the efforts and benefits with scope parameters given some mission-dependent con-
only 10% of the costs, while launch and operations ac- straints; (xiii) the introduction of a panel on the tech-
count for 10% of the efforts and benefits with 90% of nological capabilities of modern and future CubeSats
the costs (mostly for the sat-launch), some question with a short introduction of state-of-the-art technolo-
the necessity of launching for teaching. Moreover, gies.
students should face a degree of complexity which
is compatible with their knowledge. Therefore, they 2 Main Takeaways on
should be assigned with sub-subsystems only. It is
CubeSat Technology and
utterly important for students to understand well the
mission and its requirements in order to develop the
CubeSat Missions
subsystem handed to them, while system-level tasks The great efficiency resulting from high productivi-
should belong to permanent staff duties (teachers or ty at lower costs and lower energy-usage ensured by
Ph.D.). CubeSats (or small satellites) technology is deemed
454 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

to outperform traditional satellites in these prima- 2.2 CubeSats beyond Universities

ry aspects. As a matter of fact, even though Cube- CubeSats are still used for what they were first
Sats were first developed at the university level for created for, i.e. education at universities. They are
educational purposes, they do now represent an ad- indeed a great teaching tool, but for some countries,
vantageous solution also for commercial missions led they also often represent the very first national satel-
by space agencies as well as for joint projects across lite launched at national level (e.g. Switzerland’s first
countries. Furthermore, researchers and engineers CubeSats launched in 2009).
were also given the chance to inquire about potential Nevertheless, this rapidly developing field of
collaboration opportunities at the international level CubeSat offers new opportunities for numerous space
based on CubeSats constellation missions. Specifical- research areas. Using miniaturized, low-power instru-
ly, scientists were able to acquire more knowledge on mentation developed for cube satellites, it is possi-
the aspects investigated in the following subchapters. ble to reduce the time from the mission concept to
2.1 CubeSats Highlights: real measurements in space. CubeSat is also a cost-
Efficiency, Constellation Missions, effective tool to get a payload into space to carry out
Deep-space Exploration research and develop new technologies.
CubeSats are a convenient, light-weight, sustainable 2.3 Technical Knowledge
solution for space science missions as their production In terms of technical knowledge and takeaways, they
and launching costs are significantly lower than in can be summarized in the following points: (i) hard-
traditional satellites. Their reduced dimensions come ware and software reliability: design and testing;
with several benefits not only in terms of reduced (ii) modular approach and its benefits; (iii) compact
costs, but also in terms of risks and reachability. In design subsystem; (iv) COTS, Rad hardening and
fact, while large satellites can only cover a relatively reliability relation; (v) state-of-the-art sensors used
limited portion of space, a constellation of CubeSats on CubeSat; (vi) statistical trends of CubeSat; (vii)
can work on a larger area at the same time, thus know-how development.
expanding the potential of space missions. While Fostering know-how development and sharing is
Earth-bound satellites remain vital for educational a key strategy to improve skills and capabilities and
and scientific activities, CubeSats and small satellites in this regard, the following aspects where considered:
in general still represent an invaluable asset for deep- (i) MOVE I Mission: overall design considerations;
space exploration (even though some questions re- (ii) choice of Communications Bands (IARU/UIT);
main on their feasibility for interplanetary missions). (iii) Italy’s experience on teaching university students
In the last couple of years, it was proven that how to use CubeSats shows that it’s worth it even if
CubeSats are a feasible tool for conducting scientific not launched[16,17] ; (iv) engineering overview of fore-
experiments, both in Earth orbit but also in inter- sail CubeSats; (v) aoxiang series CubeSats, develop-
planetary space. The upcoming launch of Artemis-1 ment and trends; (vi) Aalto University and its vi-
[15] sion of a “Finnish Centre of Excellence in Sustain-
will deploy 13 CubeSats with a broad variety of
planned experiments into interplanetary trajectories able Space”; (vii) general application of the sequence:
and many future deep space launches will have re- CubeSat Development by the integration of tested
served volume for scientific CubeSats. Even with a modules – Development by the integration of tested
small 1U to 3U CubeSat, it is possible to carry out im- modules and design/implementation of a subsystem
portant missions involving inter-sat communication, – Development by full custom design; (viii) man-
remote sensing, and bioscience missions. Solar sail agement of Development Team and the challenge of
used in CubeSat to deorbit it also represented an in- knowledge management when working with students;
teresting mission application. (ix) Korean SNIPE, use of IRIDIUM as backup Com-
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 455

munication and formation flight strategy (see Fi- 2.5 Costs and Complexity Relationship
gure 12). One of the most important lessons learned from
2.4 Importance of Interdisciplinary university-built CubeSats (and also commercial mis-
Research on CubeSats sions) is the relationship between complexity and
The combination of physics, relativity, and astrono- cost/ schedule. As stated in the previous section,
my together with engineering knowledge constitutes missions’ complexity increases both costs and deve-
a win-win interdisciplinary approach. Physics-based lopment time, with a directly proportional relation-
presentations were particularly useful to understand ship in terms of schedule, while it is exponential for
the challenges associated with operating more than costs. Such relationship is a particularly significant
one satellite at a time as well as with finding opti- for interplanetary missions, as the launch opportuni-
mal trajectories that would fulfill the mission objec- ties are rare and thus the demand for more experi-
tives. Nevertheless, it was clear that without access ments on one specific mission is usually high.
to small satellite technologies, high-energy or general 2.6 CubeSats’ Main Challenges
relativity-based missions would be overly costly and Among the main challenges faced by developers, re-
unfeasible. Scientists, especially those who deal with searchers, and engineers of CubeSats several factors
abstract topics such as relativity and astronomy, are can be enumerated, such as the lack of standardiza-
more deeply involved in CubeSat missions than ex- tion in terms of interface, which may complicate the
pected. Furthermore, also theoretical physicists have collaboration among different actors, and the need
expressed deep interest in the CubeSat business and for improvement of CubeSats’ structure. Further-
in a similar token, increased attention is dedicated more, the space debris problem should not be neglec-
to missions which do not prioritize technology but ted, a nowadays small but still rapidly growing prob-
rather science questions, such as the Korean SNIPE lem. However, CubeSats are currently not the main
mission. In fact, even though this mission does not concern in this regard, as only over 1200 CubeSats
adopt revolutionary and state-of-the-art technologies, have been launched into space so far. A solution still
it puts emphasis on ionospheric and magnetospheric needs to be found, and EPFL is working on it through
science questions, as it was also the case of some other CleanSpace One (see Figure 13). Finally, even though
missions driven by science questions. the interface standardization is a change required to
simplify CubeSats-based collaboration, the standar-
dization of the CubeSat deployer reduced the flexibil-
ity left to developers to adjust the shape and volume
of a CubeSat.

Fig. 12 South Korean SNIPE (Small scale

magNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment) Fig. 13 CleanSpace One satellite is a technology
Satellite is a south Korean mission for identifying demonstration satellite first developed by the Swiss
temporal and spatial variation of small scale plasma Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole
structures in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL).
Credits: KASI Credits: EPFL
456 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

HERMES and CHESS missions can provide in- on plasma, propulsion aystem about satellite, cold
sights on an inspiring science application of Cube- gas, liquid, resistors, RF ion, electrospray, pulse
Sat platforms. Both missions aim to study the elec- plasma, and vacuum arc thrusters, rain fade pre-
tromagnetic counterparts of the gravitational waves, diction software, some models affiliated with Mega-
paving the way to multi-messenger astronomy. Fur- cells such as Loo model, Statistical model, Coraz-
thermore, the discussions on the COSPAR Roadmap za model, Lutz Two state channel model, Physical-
on Small Satellites for Space Science (4S) and on how statistical models, Time share of shadowing models,
to use CubeSats for science missions from a physics Time series model, Wideband model, Two satellite
point of view can give a general perspective on the model, Mobile-satellite channel model, Radiometry
future science missions with CubeSats. In particu- missions, Atmospheric radiometry, Deep space mis-
lar, the swarm explorations of a solar system body sions, Design optimization of CubeSat telescopes and
and the vision for a visit to Alpha Centauri with very imagers for Earth and space observation, Classifica-
tiny chip-size satellites are promising perspectives on tion of satellites, future trends of CubeSat techno-
solar system explorations and interstellar visits. logy, High gain microstrip antenna design for Cube-
In addition to these visionary discussions, three Sats, COSPAR roadmap on Small Satellites for Space
currently operating missions can offer interesting in- Science (4S) engineering overview of Foresail satel-
sights, i.e. the Japanese Moon exploration project lites, PharmaSat, GraviSat, SporeSat, EcASat and
based on CubeSat technology, EQUULEUS and O- BioSental, Small scale Magnetospheric and Ionosphe-
MOTENASHI, the Korean CubeSat constellation ric Plasma Experiment (SNIPE) solid state telescope,
mission for small scale magnetospheric and ionosphe- magnetometer, several ground stations.
ric plasma studies, i.e. SNIPE, and the FORESAIL
missions of Finland for studying space environment 3 Recommendations for Newcomers
at LEO and GTO.
in CubeSats’ Missions
2.7 Cross-country Collaboration
As outlined in the last section of this article (Inter- 3.1 CubeSats for Interdisciplinary,
national collaboration), despite the evident financial Multi-layered Collaboration
benefits guaranteed by CubeSats, the development CubeSats provide the largest single standard launch
and implementation of space science missions can still market available at the moment, creating a rapid-
represent a tedious challenge in terms of financial, ly developing ecosystem around it. They ensure easy
technical, and technological resources for many coun- access to a wide range of innovative ideas to any coun-
tries. Less developed countries nowadays have the ca- try that enters the field, as CubeSats do not simply
pability to launch their own scientific CubeSats, but represent a standard spacecraft but rather a collabo-
they may face some difficulties in terms of funding ration, innovation, and education platform. A single
and governments’ willingness to support the projects. CubeSat launch is not necessarily a big breakthrough
Moreover, the cooperation between teams in the form in space technology, but it prompts the community
of exchange of students and staff would help differen- and young teams around it to build the national ca-
tiate the experience among teams and improve future pacity to launch and operate national space missions.
missions. CubeSats also constitute a very affordable plat-
2.8 Overall Knowledge on Numerous form for hands-on learning of space technology and it
Different Topics Acquired through has so far shown a strong capability to incubate new
CubeSats Education business ideas. It is also an affordable instrument for
Applied plasma physics, electric propulsion, experi- developing space science and scientific missions and
mentation, design, and development process. Experi- raise overall awareness about topics related to global
mental study of effects of electric and magnetic field technology.
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 457

First of all, they can be developed fast and cheap. Therefore, newcomers in CubeSat missions are
As such, CubeSats make space research accessible for encouraged as follows.
universities all around the world and put space re- (1) To focus on and be creative with the scienti-
search in high gear, leading to amazing possibilities. fic motivations beyond their projects. While building
Perhaps, future planetary missions could also include and operating a satellite in space remains a key ac-
one or two student-led CubeSats that would operate tivity for educational and social purposes, it is true
independently of the main spacecraft, limiting the that some interesting scientific experiments could be
cost-related impacts to the primary mission. It is un- made “along the way” while developing the neces-
deniable that the possibility to build one’s own space- sary protocols and know-how to design and operate a
craft to make measurements on Mars or a comet or CubeSat. A clear scientific purpose would widen the
anywhere else in the solar system could energize the impact of their corresponding spacecraft project as
next generation of planetary scientists and engineers. well as attract the interest of the international com-
These scientists and engineers can get involved in the munity.
entire life cycle of the satellite, thereby facilitating (2) To focus on intersystem tests, i.e. a test pro-
and maximizing technology transfer. gram that should evolve around sub-system interac-
Secondly, countries afoot the CubeSat industry tions. A rudimentary standard function test of each
should consider the community aspect and enable sub-system is naturally mandatory before system in-
their young CubeSat teams to visit conferences and tegration, but letting the sub-systems perform with
workshops to develop connections. In order to be each other will assure full functionality and at the
successful, the CubeSat developments should always same time give sub-system developers a deeper under-
involve a novel element in order to start partnerships standing of their own system. Although the space
with other industry players. A CubeSat is legisla- environment is different from a lab setting and it is
tively equal to a large spacecraft and therefore, a hostile to satellites, the major reasons for CubeSat
single national CubeSat can lead to significant de- failures built by new-comers are inter-system failures.
velopments in the national legislation as well as in (3) To keep the Bearden rule in mind when plan-
the organization of space activities at a higher level. ning a mission. This does not necessarily imply the
Last but not least, CubeSats represent a very reduction or resizing of the scientific outputs and
good option for engineers to work in collaboration goals of the mission, it rather means to reduce the
with other engineering departments. A CubeSat- complexity of experiments and of the satellite itself.
based project can involve electronics, communication, This can be deeply enhanced by the already available
mechanics, aerospace, and system engineers, who can subsystems or products on the market, also coming
all commit to the mission to polish their skills and from terrestrial applications, which can be reused in
gear up for big satellites and bigger projects. CubeSat missions. At the end of the day, CubeSats
3.2 Key Lessons for Newcomers have to be fast-to-build and relatively cheap, but both
in the CubeSats’ Industry characteristics can be aligned with the scientific ob-
Newcomers in the CubeSat missions have the oppor- jectives of the mission, as proven by the successful Lu-
tunity to work on a wide range of missions. Nowa- nar Prospector and Mars Pathfinder (and Sojourner)
days, researchers are running numerous important missions of the Faster-Better-Cheaper program.
projects by means of CubeSat technology, includ- (4) To lay out the concrete mission goals before
ing remote sensing, communication, Earth-imaging, actually building the CubeSat. It is nowadays easier
space exploration, inter-sat communication, air traf- to enter the field since one can learn from the lessons
fic management, ship tracking, and there are many that other missions have provided. However, the cri-
other missions which could be carried out by means tical issue is the project management and the process
of CubeSat technology. of learning about a CubeSat mission. It is necessary
458 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

to learn from commercial CubeSats and focus only on capabilities and to expand the nowadays relatively
the payload design to make the first mission a success. limited but increasing application of this technology
One should learn the whole process that leads to the in science. With projects like HERMES (High Energy
CubeSat launch to acquire know-how. Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites), we could try
(5) To note that redundancy can be the key to to follow this concept, suggesting that CubeSats in-
a successful CubeSat mission. However, one needs to corporates the technology that could potentially lead
be careful about the trade-off between complexity and to breakthrough discoveries. The HERMES mission
redundancy, as every redundancy introduced makes is established on a novel close and synergistic colla-
the system more fault-tolerant, and at the same time boration between astrophysics, fundamental physics,
it makes it more complex to manage the system. engineering, and the industry, where all these fields
(6) To have real science objectives and to pro- are cross-fertilized and encouraged by the realization
duce real data. Nowadays, it is getting harder and of an extremely ambitious experiment, containing the
harder to get funded for an education-only CubeSat costs and the time dedicated to operations. This am-
mission. Indeed, one cannot forget that a CubeSat bitious goal will be achieved by exploiting at most
mission is not only about building a CubeSat and the Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) components,
launching it, but also about getting data and ana- which are currently underperforming in the space en-
lyzing them. Nevertheless, for a newcomer who has vironment, but with the potential to provide high im-
no prior experience with CubeSats and space mis- pact and radical transformations in terms of its space
sions in general and who cannot resort to the help application.
of experienced people, it might be better to focus on It is important to highlight that joining the ex-
a small 1U mission or to gather experience in other perts’ community and directly interacting with scien-
ways. Also, it comes without saying that if a Cube- tists who have developed a successful mission sure-
Sat is built by students, the likelihood to have nu- ly helps the newcomers in formulating new CubeSat
merous mistakes is much higher than with a full-time missions. This kind of collaboration, if done care-
team. Therefore, being vigilant and debugging fre- fully, can be very helpful in framing future satellite
quently are two musts. For what regards universities’ missions to yield useful scientific results. This com-
concerns, the most important thing is the balance be- munity of veterans and newbies may be right at the
tween costs and performance. Furthermore, a good first stage of their collaboration, where the former can
performance always means higher costs. However, it help the latter learn and accumulate experience on
must be noted that not all missions need a high per- CubeSats. However, it should encompass the partici-
formance, as it should not exceed the requirement of pation of intermediate-level players, who are neither
the mission. newbies nor senior researchers. The participation of
(7) To start understanding the solutions of other those mid-level players may help effective communi-
teams and to learn from their lessons. Make things cation between the two groups, a sort of intermediate
simpler and avoid aiming at designs which are too actor for the best results.
complex. Ambitious goals are directly proportionate In joining the scientific community, we will un-
to experience increase and the modernity of the de- derstand the potential and progress of each player,
sign techniques, such as model-based design. Last seizing the chance to explore the progress and type
but not least, effective team building and experienced of researches being carried out by each country, the
people retention are also a key for success. All the recent trends of small satellite technology, the latest
work done should be properly documented in order studies, and some other noble projects.
to further reduce delays. At the same time, it is essential not to lose sight
(8) To be aware that the synergy between com- of the importance of the trainings. Students mostly
munities is the key to promote and improve CubeSats’ focus on theory when studying at university. How-
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 459

ever, a hands-on workshop including practice at the (4) No more need to work from the ground up
AIT lab. can sometimes be more useful than theory. as lessons learned from past mistakes are shared.
Small satellite missions can be a good opportunity to (5) Higher contribution for scientific purposes
train students and provide knowledge about satellite rather than unnecessary technological show-off.
technology. (6) Strengthened global ties through scientific
collaboration.
4 CubeSats-based International Given the favorable corollary of international
collaboration, CubeSats currently represent a highly
Collaboration
attractive point of collaboration for international in-
4.1 CubeSats Advantages for stitutions, universities, space agencies, and in gene-
Cross-country Cooperation ral, for those who are committed to space science
The beneficial impact of CubeSats-based joint efforts studies. Many countries around the globe are still
can positively affect the international relations be- looking for technological and scientific cooperation
tween countries of different kinds, from regions with opportunities, such as the Department of Astronau-
less financial and technological means and expertise tical Engineering of the University of Turkish Aero-
up to nations which stand at the forefront of space nautical Association (Turkey), which is gearing up to
science innovation, as well as between eastern and work on the High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble
western territorial sovereignties. In regard to less- of Satellites mission (HERMES) together with many
developed territories, the relevance of global ties de- other international actors.
pends on multiple factors, as it enables them to learn 4.2 Current Joint CubeSats-based
faster with the help of international experts as well Projects and Missions
as to share costs and risks. Below are some examples of successful international
Cross-border collaboration made it possible for collaboration experiences as well as of commitment
countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, to CubeSats-based knowledge-sharing models.
and Mongolia, to make the most out of the cross- (1) Nations such as China, Turkey, and African
border know-how sharing network and, in some cases, countries sent their first CubeSats into space in the
it even led to pioneering projects and achievements. context of the QB50 international network of Cube-
This is for example the case of Mongolia, which Sats which also involves several European countries∗ .
launched its first Mazaalai satellite into space in 2017 (2) The mission proposal “Deep Space Obse-
in the framework of the Birds-1 constellation of satel- rvation Forerunner (DSOF)” was recently submit-
lites which involved also Japan, Bangladesh, Ghana, ted to the China National Space Administration
and Nigeria. (CNSA). Co-sponsored by Dalian University of Tech-
Therefore, the overall benefits of CubeSats-based nology, Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Xin-
international collaboration are as follows. jiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry,
(1) Improved productivity as know-how and Belarusian State University, and Changguang Satel-
scientific concepts of space missions are shared lite Co. Ltd., the project is based on two CubeSats,
between different actors striving together toward a CubeSat deployer, and four femto (10−15 ) satellites
greater scientific discoveries. to target the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 and the
(2) Fewer chances of failure when knowledge main-band comet 133P. The aim of the DSOF mission
and risks are shared, especially for universities or is to conduct scientific research, among others, space
other entities if they have already built multiple radiation measurement, asteroid landing, CubeSat vi-
[18,19]
CubeSats . sible/hyperspectral image acquisition, and it is one of
(3) Countries with fewer resources can advance the candidate proposals of CNSA project whose final
and learn faster from CubeSats experts. selection has not been announced yet.

∗ [Link]
460 Chin. J. Space Sci. 
2020, 40(4)

(3) Thanks to international mutual support, fic results, and for the success of space missions, has
Mongolia launched its first Mazaalai CubeSat into grown to represent a critical focus in space science
space on 3 June 2017. studies widely recognized by international scientific
(4) CONIDA (Peru) continuously participates in communities for multiple reasons.
several projects worldwide, such as the Student Small In the first place, the marked efficiency of Cube-
Satellite, and it also collaborates with Peruvian uni- Sats in comparison to traditional satellites lies in its
versities working on CubeSats. affordability both in terms of technological develop-
(5) In Pakistan, the Space System Lab (SSL) of ment as well as of scientific investigations. Moreover,
the Institute of Space Technology (IST) is fully fo- the financial competitiveness of CubeSats implemen-
cused on CubeSats research and hitherto, IST is the tation is also paired with the agile and time-saving
only and first institute in Pakistan to have launched technological and technical development of this kind
its own CubeSats. of satellites, which can also be employed to comple-
(6) The SSS-2A Project is part of APSCO Stu- ment the tasks carried out by traditional probes.
dent Small Satellite program and is being jointly de- As a general rule, CubeSats positively differen-
veloped by Shanghai Jiaotong University (China) and tiate themselves from traditional satellites thanks to
the Institute of Space Technology (Pakistan). the following features: (i) affordability; (ii) less time-
(7) The SSS-2B Project is also part of the same consuming in terms of technical development as well
program and is being jointly developed by Tubitak- as of scientific investigations; (iii) complementary to
Uzay (Turkey) and GISTDA (Thailand). traditional probes; (iv) overall improved efficiency.
(8) Aalto University (Finland) has implemented Evidence has shown that CubeSats technology-
the Erasmus Mundus Space Masters as well as the sharing entails multiple advantages for all actors in-
Masters in Cold Climate Engineering. volved in the process, from satellite developers to
(9) The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency countries with fewer resources, as it decreases the
(JAXA) is committed to the national and interna- chances of mission failure. Furthermore, great bene-
tional transfer of knowledge among universities and fits in terms of scientific progress can derive from a
space agencies worldwide. technology-oriented cooperation. In fact, given the
(10) Switzerland and EPFL (Switzerland) ac- great complexity of space science-related questions
tively participate in chosen programs of the European and challenges, global technology collaboration can
Space Agency (ESA). serve as a springboard for deeper scientific research
(11) GISTDA (Thailand) has created Space In- and as a determinant to achieve competitive scientific
spirium, a modern science museum focusing on space outcomes.
technology and the science of the universe and aiming For these main reasons, CubeSats currently con-
at knowledge sharing. stitute a valid, highly efficient option which allows
Given the proven multilateral interest and bene- scientists to fully focus on CubeSats’ potential scienti-
fits of international collaboration in CubeSat deve- fic and engineering applications, rather than on their
lopment and application, many actors are looking preliminary development and project. As a matter
forward to foster and enhance this kind of coopera- of fact, the technical development of CubeSats bears
tion model to create international space missions and no secrets as big as the mysteries of science, which,
tighten the ties between countries worldwide. on the other hand, do still need joint efforts to be
properly unlocked. In order to do so and thanks to
5 Conclusions the favorable common ground provided by CubeSats’
shareable advantages, international actors of different
The relevance and importance of CubeSats for the kinds are prompted to work together, decrease in-
development of space studies, for advanced scienti- ternational competition, and get rid of any eventual
SEYEDABADI M E et al.: Science Missions Using CubeSats 461

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