New research could change how space missions are conducted

Cutting-edge research from Curtin University has the potential to revolutionize space missions and advance industries such as environmental management, agriculture, disaster management, and infrastructure inspection.

Supported by the Australian Research Council, a team from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences has achieved a major breakthrough in the operation and monitoring of CubeSats, small satellites that could change the way we approach space exploration.

The project entailed the creation of groundbreaking algorithms that leverage satellite connections to precisely establish a CubeSat’s position, whether it operates independently or as part of a constellation.

According to project lead Professor Ahmed El-Mowafy, this innovative approach effectively circumvents the challenges associated with CubeSats, such as their compact size and the influence of fluctuating aerodynamic forces on their orbital trajectories.

“These new methods mean CubeSats can now operate more independently, without the need for constant human control,” Professor El-Mowafy said. “When human control is needed, the CubeSats are simpler to manage and can be guided and controlled in real-time – making them far more efficient to use in space missions. We can now operate them and be precise down to a few centimeters, which is a huge improvement from the previous accuracy level of several meters.”

Professor El-Mowafy emphasized that these advancements are essential for addressing climate change and improving industrial profitability.

“CubeSats have a wide variety of Earth and Space science applications from tracking land-use changes and pollution levels to informing wildlife conservation efforts through habitat monitoring,” Professor El-Mowafy said.

Furthermore, CubeSat-derived crop monitoring data equips farmers with valuable insights for optimizing fertilizer usage, water management, and harvest planning.

“CubeSats can offer high-definition monitoring of bridges, pipelines, and powerlines to improve asset management and prevent accidents while also supporting responses to incidents and natural disasters with targeted imagery of affected areas,” Professor El-Mowafy said. “The resources industry can use high-resolution mapping to identify deposits and plan extraction, reducing costs and increasing success rates.”

According to Professor El-Mowafy, the project‘s innovations are expected to become increasingly prevalent in everything from everyday activities to space exploration.

“It also allows swarms of CubeSats to collaborate on large space missions, such as taking detailed Earth photos, which usually require a single, much larger and more expensive satellite.”

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