Our projects

These are the projects that our team is working on. Space Missions, Small SAT Simulator and High-Altitude Ballooning are our main focus.

Space Missions

AlfaCrux

The AlfaCrux mission is an educational and technological in orbit demonstration of narrowband communication solutions. It is a 1U university CubeSat satellite developed by students and professors from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. It is the first space mission financed by the Government of the Federal District of Brazil through the Federal District Research Support Foundation (FAPDF), that also counts with the support of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL). Come and be part of it!

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WormSail

A 2U CubeSat, the WormSail is a university satellite developed by students and professors from the University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil, and the University of Nottingham (UoN), UK. The main mission is educational: to provide a hands-on experience to the students in the complete process of developing and operating a space mission. It aims to demonstrate in orbit a flight software algorithm to perform packet routing, a set of observation subsystems to collect images and data from on-board sensors, and a new subsystem for attitude maneuvers including a 3-axes magnetorquer and a passive deorbiting mechanism based on Origami-like structures and atomic oxygen corrosion. Get in touch and help WormSail be a great success!

Comming soon

AstroJam

The LODESTAR team is very proud to be a member of the AstroJam space mission! The AstroJam is a 3U student-led CubeSat designed to perform research at the University of Nottingham, with science payloads supported by the Astropharmacy Research Group and Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI). The payloads include a miniaturised fluorescence spectrometer for the in-situ analysis of cell free bioreporters producing analogue astropharmaceuticals and a CubeSat-based GNSS interference mapping payload. Additionally, an ADCS magnetorquer cooperatively developed with the LODESTAR team at the University of Brasilia will be used for detumbling and pointing the satellite. The mission is organised and run by students from various departments, involving them at Bachelor, Masters and PhD level and enabling them to develop their theses into hands-on, working pieces of space technology. The AstroJam main bus subsystems (OBC, EPS and radio transceiver) are commercial off the shelf items, although notably structural components will be partly manufactured in-house at UoN, while other components will be manufactured using additive manufacturing technologies from specialised companies in Nottingham and Europe. AstroJam will provide both IOD of the first CubeSat hosted GNSS interference mapping payload, as well as validation of the first University-led biomedical CubeSat payload - both cutting-edge research areas that have well cited potential applications. The in-situ culturing and analysis of cell-free synthesised astropharmaceutical molecules has almost limitless applications to microgravity research and technology to support future crewed missions for food and medicine production, waste treatment and ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilisation). Similarly, the ability to monitor GNSS interference using relatively low-cost satellites may lead to future constellations dedicated to GNSS signal monitoring, increasing revisit time, and allowing resources to be focused on areas with degraded performance. The LODESTAR team will also support the AstroJam mission in the ground segment by receiving telemetry in a reliable communication channel. The LODESTAR team thanks the University of Nottingham for the partnership!

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Glee

The Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone, GLEE 2023, is a mission to the surface of the Moon that will conduct science and test technology with hundreds of 5-gram LunaSats built by students from all around the world. The LODESTAR is proud to be one of the organizations currently involved. Check more information on the GLEE website!

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Small SAT Simulator

Simulator

Attitude simulators are a great resource for designing and testing attitude determination and control algorithms for spacecraft. They have been used for decades equipped with different sensors and actuators to reproduce the operational conditions of a satellite in space and to experimentally validate hardware and algorithms. The LODESTAR facility provides to the user a magnetic field simulator paired to an air-bearing platform that can simulate the attitude motion of a nanosatellite in orbit. The aim of this system is to provide a hardware-in-the-loop facility for attitude determination and control systems of nanosatellites for several applications, such as testing of algorithms, sensors, and actuators, as well as satellite functional tests. Come to validate your ideas and be part of this team!

Comming soon

High-Altitude Ballooning

LAICAnSat

The high-altitude scientific platform developed at LODESTAR, called LAICAnSat, is a project that started in 2013 as an initiative to stimulate the study of aerospace systems and to provide a low-cost platform for hands-on aerospace education. The first flight tests took place in 2014 (LAICAnSat-1 and LAICAnSat-2) and allowed to test early hardware solutions. Other four launches occurred in 2017 (LAICAnSat-3, LAICAnSat-4, LAICAnSat-5 and LAICAnSat-5.1). LAICAnSat-3 and LAICAnSat-4 were launched to validate a new mechanical structure fabricated in accordance with the CubeSat standard and using rapid prototype technologies based on 3D printer manufacturing, the new PC/104 standard PCB with the on-board computer and embedded sensors, as well as two 360º spherical cameras.

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Kuaray

The main mission of the LAICAnSat platform took place at Idaho, USA, in 2017. The goal was to record the total solar eclipse from the stratosphere using a 360º degree camera, reproducing the flight experience up to the stratosphere during the total solar eclipse of August 2017 in North America, as well as to provide a vertical meteorological mapping of the whole flight path. It was a new achievement in the world, to the best of our knowledge never seen before! The LODESTAR team, and its partners Mutum Ham Radio Expedition team and the Brazilian Astronomy Club, DF, Brazil, are proud for having been a member of the NASA Space Grant Eclipse Ballooning Project. The LAICAnSat-5 (CubeSat 3U standard) and LAICAnSat-5.1 (Cube-Sat 1U standard) launch and the mission were a great success! Check this adventure and come to be a partner!

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