Lessons Learned from SPACE HAUC: An undergraduate CubeSat mission to demonstrate high bandwidth communication using a X-Band phased-array system

The NASA Undergraduate Student Instrumentation Program (USIP) is designed to provide hands-on training in spaceflight missions to multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students with a goal of developing future space explorers. The Science Program Around Communication Engineering with High Achieving Undergraduate Cadres (SPACE HAUC), a 3U CubeSat project was selected as a part of the USIP program and is scheduled for flight in 2020.

SPACE HAUC is designed to demonstrate high rate space-to-ground data transmission (up to 100 Mbps) that is essential for imaging applications that dominate current and planned nanosatellite missions. It operates in X-band (7.2 - 8.3 GHz) and uses a 16 element (4 X 4) patch antenna array in a small (1.5U package). The phased array will create a 25° (FWHM) beam and will also demonstrate beam steering over ± 45° with less than 5° error.

The SPACE HAUC team gratefully acknowledges support from the NASA USIP program, Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium, UMass Lowell's Immersive Scholars program, BAE Systems and 4C Test Systems.