University of Tokyo’s CubeSat Project -Mission Concept and Subsystem Design-

Abstract

This paper describes outline of the University of Tokyo Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory(ISSL)’s CubeSat “XI” for the demonstration of the pico-satellite bus technology and validation of the commercial-off-the-shelf parts in space as well as the earth imaging mission. CubeSat project is the international joint program, which aims for developing and actually launching 10cm cubic satellites weighing less than 1kg to the earth’s orbit. 18 CubeSats developed by Japanese and U.S. institutes are to be launched by the Russian launch vehicle “Dnepr” in Nowember 2002 to the Sun-synchronized orbit. The project in ISSL is conducted by 20 space engineering students as a material of education.