Research Summaries

Back GRACE: NPS CubeSat Launcher (NPSCuL) Flight Structure, Flight Documentation and Integration Activities

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Space Systems Academic Group
Investigator(s) Newman, James H.
Sponsor Department of Defense Space (DoD)
Summary The GRACE flight project is a follow-on to the successful OUTSat and GEMSat projects and builds on several student theses to implement a CubeSat launch system in flight hardware as part of the SSAG Small Satellite hands-on laboratory work. This proposal documents the funding required and the statement of work needed to continue work on an NPSCuL (NPS Cube Sat Launcher) flight unit and perform associated activities as part of the GRACE mission, in collaboration with the Office of Space Launch (OSL) and their Auxiliary Payload Integrating Contractor. GRACE is currently scheduled to launch in late 2014 from Vandenberg as part of the L-55 mission. GRACE will fly on an Aft Bulkhead Carrier (ABC) plate and will utilize NPSCuL and Cal Poly P-PODs to launch a significant volume of CubeSats, enabling OSL to efficiently launch US government and other CubeSats. Schedule permitting, a new, complex, isogrid version of NPSCuL may be qualified in time for GRACE. The operational nature of the project and the lessons learned generate student thesis topics, the results of which feed back into more advanced versions of NPSCuL
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Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal