Research on CubeSat utilization in the space national security

Hyosang Yoon; Jae-Hung Han; Hyogeun Han

doi:10.23386/joss.2024.1.1.004

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Research Article

Research on CubeSat utilization in the space national security

30 September 2024. pp. 35-49

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Abstract

Since the California Polytechnic State University proposed the reference platform design of CubeSat in 1,999, more than 2,000 CubeSats with various purposes have been launched by 2,023 and proved their efficiency. The global CubeSat market is growing rapidly with companies and startups that provide CubeSat-related services, such as manufacturing platforms and components, image processing, constellation management, and launch services. Although the number of research and projects for CubeSat is increasing in South Korea, the development environment for CubeSat still needs improvement. Therefore, institutional support for the domestic CubeSat market is required. This study summarizes the optical technologies in the range of visible light and infrared that can be applied to CubeSat for space national security and the considerations for mounting these optical payloads. Also, a pilot study for laser communication, a new field of space communication using a narrow beam-width laser, was conducted. The target performance of optical payload and constellation system of space national security CubeSats were set by referring to a small satellite constellation example. Additionally, this study proposes laser communication for securing communication between CubeSats and ground stations, along with plans to utilize CubeSat constellations and small satellites in complementary ways. The Department of Aerospace Engineering in KAIST keeps developing technologies that are in line with the rapidly growing CubeSat market, including research on laser communication modules and deployable optical CubeSat.

Keywords

CubeSat

Constellation

Earth observing satellite

Laser communication

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Information

Publisher :Korean Academy of Space Security
Publisher(Ko) :한국우주안보학회
Journal Title :JOURNAL OF SPACE SECURITY
Journal Title(Ko) :한국우주안보학회지
Volume : 1
No :1
Pages :35-49
Received Date : 2024-03-22
Revised Date : 2024-08-26
Accepted Date : 2024-09-04
DOI :https://doi.org/10.23386/joss.2024.1.1.004

JOURNAL OF SPACE SECURITY ISSN:3058-5759(Print) 한국우주안보학회지

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