2018-2020

About

Argus-02’s mission is twofold: to improve the ability to model the effects of space radiation on modern electronics, and to take a baby-step towards SLU’s next space project, called DORRE, by using AI techniques to automatically detect and sense natural events, such as auroras, thunderstorms or meteors.

The effects of radiation in data storage components can be quantified by comparing the rates of on-orbit radiation events against the predictive models developed by the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE). Argus-02 leverages Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CubeSat systems and the extremely simple payload requirements to enable a short-turnaround mission. Argus-02 is a 1U CubeSat (approximately 10x10x10 cm) with a mass of 1.2kg designed to operate in Low Earth Orbit.

Argus-02 serves the purpose of being a "lessons-learned" spacecraft from the critical failures that occurred in the development of the COPPER-2 and Rascal spacecraft and the faults discovered many years later in both the original COPPER and Argus spacecrafts. Argus-02 relies heavily on COTS components from EnduroSat in an effort to minimize the need for students to design hardware to allow the SSRL team to focus on the interfaces between subsystems.

Mission

Argus-02 is a re-flight mission of Argus (SLU-02), which was lost on launch in 2015. In February 2012, Argus was selected by NASA for a sponsored launch under its Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) Program. Argus was launched on November 3rd, 2015 as part of the ORS-4 Mission on the inaugural flight of the Super-Strypi rocket out of Hawaii. Unfortunately, the launch failed early in the flight and Argus did not reach orbit.

The motivation for the Argus missions is straightforward: the models used today to determine how electronic devices will operate when exposed to space radiation were created in the 1970s and ‘80s, and are tailored to the kinds of electronics available in the 1970s and ‘80s using the computational resources in the 1970s and ‘80s. Modern electronics are smaller, faster and more complex than their predecessors. The existing models to define their reliability in space simply do not apply.

With the advent of the CubeSat standard and the universal adoption of the P-POD carrier among U.S. and international launch vehicles, spaceflight has become a cost-effective complement to ground testing.

Engineering Process

Argus-02 was initially proposed to students in Space Mission Analysis and Design (SLU, AENG-4980) in Spring 2018 as a potential final project. Two different groups developed their own proposals to meet the requirements set per the Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Swartwout, and his partner, Bennett Research Technologies.

Upon revision of the viability of the proposals, one of them was chosen and introduced to the Space Systems Research Laboratory (SSRL). Since, a diverse group of students from different engineering disciplines and levels of experience have worked together to push the project forward.

Argus-02 was integrated over the summer of 2019 by the core of the development team. It was delivered to NanoRacks and launched aboard NG-12 on November 2nd, 2019, as a part of NASA’s ELaNa 25A CubeSat launch.

Payload

Argus-02 leverages COTS CubeSat systems and the extremely simple payload requirements to enable a short-turnaround mission. Its main payload components are a set of SRAM memory devices with which to quantify the effects of radiation on data storage. This will help improve modelling of the effects of radiation on space electronics.

Argus-02 also contains a small camera to perform the secondary mission of using AI techniques to automatically detect and sense natural events, such as auroras, thunderstorms or meteors.