Nano Satellite “ITF-2” Developed by University of Tsukuba YUI Project

Abstract

ITF-2, which was developed by the University of Tsukuba YUI project, was designed based on ITF-1. ITF-1 was the first CubeSat at the University of Tsukuba; however, signals were never received. Although ITF-2 was developed based on ITF-1, the components that resulted in failure were reconsidered and improved for use in ITF-2. In this paper, the overview, subsystems of ITF-2, and the design improvement from ITF-1 to ITF-2 are presented. In addition, ITF-2 was deployed from “Kibo” on January 16, 2017 and it is still operational as of September 2017. This paper reports the operation results and the achievement of missions: “YUI network”, which is a “participatory” mission using CubeSat, involving participation from people around the world, ultra-small antenna, which is used for two amateur bands by attaching it to a metal structure, and a new microcontroller, which has been reported to be saving energy, high radiation resistant and demonstrated to acquire a new achievement in space. The operation results as of September 2017 indicate that more than 900 reception reports from 19 countries were reported, indicating the success of the outreach.