NanoSat Lab

Nano Satellite Laboratory - New Mexico State University  

• Mission Concepts 1, University Nanosatellite Program

      Electromagnetic Docking Technology

NanoSat Lab's students are participating in the 2023 summer series of the University Nanosatellite Program. Running from May through August, the program provides students with systems engineering training, preparing them to work in the space industry. The students will be seated near experts for continuous feedback and guidance to help improve university proposals and increase the potential of being selected to fly to space as part of NASA’s CSLI and the U.S. Air Force UNP for future flights in 2024.

• Design and Development of Docking Mechanisms

      Small Satellite Docking Mechanism Design

We are working to design and develop docking mechanisms for small satellites (mother-satellite and children-satellites) for a mission concept design of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  

• Onboard Guidance and Control for Rendezvous and Docking for OSAM Missions 

     CubeSat Rendezvous and Docking 

We are developing a novel robust onboard guidance and control algorithm for spacecraft rendezvous and docking with consideration of various on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing missions.

• Satellite Alignment System Project (SAS-SAT)

     CubeSat Rendezvous and Docking 

We will develop and demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and docking technologies for two CubeSats (2U Target and 3U Imager) using a novel autonomous alignment method. This project is  sponsored by Northrop Grumman.

• VIrtual Super-resolution Optics with Reconfigurable Swarms (VISORS)  

      Distributed Ultraviolet Space Telescope Using CubeSats

NanoSat Lab is collaborating with 9 universities and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to design, build, and operate two 6U-CubeSats that together form an ultraviolet telescope for observing the sun's nanoflares. The nanoflares are a potentially important source of heating for the solar corona. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (Atmospheric and Geospace Science, Space Weather Research). 

• Virtual Telescope for X-Ray Observation (VTXO) 

      Mission Design for a Distributed Space Telescope 

VTXO is a collaborative research project with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (PI: Dr. John Krizmanic) to develop two small satellites, Optics-Satellite and Detector-Satellite, and to develop guidance, navigation, and control algorithms to enable formation flying for a virtual X-ray telescope. This project is funded by NASA.

• Ionospheric Neutron Content Analyzer (INCA) 

      3U CubeSat Mission 

INCA is a scientific investigation mission. To improve current space weather models and mitigate threats to space and airborne assets we will study the latitude and time dependencies of the neutron spectrum in low-Earth orbit for the first time. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of New Hampshire developed a new directional neutron spectrometer of INCA. This project is funded by Air Force.