Telemetry-West, a division of L-3 Communications, announced the firm has provided licenses of its InControl software application to Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) for the CUSat Nanosatellite program. The InControl software product is designed to support satellite test and on-orbit operations. InControl will provide the test executive for CUSat Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T), as well as perform on-orbit operations.
Key features of the software include routine satellite fleet and ground station control, use of flexible open system standards, such as CORBA, Java and Linux, and single or multiple operator control of multiple entities. Archiving, archive retrieval and data analysis are also integrated within the functionality of the InControl software suite. Key features for factory test include straightforward database integration, rapid development and validation of test sequences and automated report generation.
CUSat is a multi-year effort to design, build and launch an autonomous in-orbit inspection satellite system. The CUSat space vehicle consists of two functionally identical satellites that will launch together and separate in orbit. Using centimeter accuracy carrier-phase differential GPS, the two satellites will perform autonomous relative navigation. One satellite will capture imagery of the other satellite and send these images to a ground station on earth where a 3-D model representation of each craft will be constructed. Doing so will demonstrate how one spacecraft can diagnose the structural health and configuration of another, a capability that will help enable commercial, government and manned space missions envisioned for the coming decades. The team has won first place in the University Nanosatellite 4 program sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. As the winner of the program competition, CUSat has been awarded a no-cost launch by NASA, currently scheduled for October of 2009—San Diego, California
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