Neptune: A 1U COTS CubeSat Mission

CubeSats have become a widely used resource in the space community. Their broad applications, including networking capabilities, coupled with their low costs make them more accessible to use in educational settings, such as high schools and universities for technology demonstrations. Furthermore, scientists can use these small satellites to gather data and conduct research. The 1U COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) CubeSat, named Neptune after the Roman God of the seas, aims at measuring the change in sea levels over time due to global warming. Data are collected with onboard sensors, which include barometer, altimeter, and temperature, to both calibrate and test the functionality of the sensors. Data from these sensors are also tested against comparable data from mobile apps and smart watches to monitor their accuracy. These sensors will be used on over a period of time to gather data on sea level and temperature changes. The data collected will be vital to scientists who are interested in conducting research on rising sea levels. This Mission also addresses the following question: Is it possible to create a low-cost, practical, functional CubeSat satellite using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components and software? This study will illustrate that it is possible to construct a low-cost COTS CubeSat that can collect accurate and complex data in as little as a few weeks.