BUTCube

small satellite demonstrator

BUTCube is a doctoral student grant elaboreted on Brno University of Technology (BUT). The primary objective of the BUTCube is a development and manufacture of a 1U CubeSat Engineering Test Unit with a scientific mission onboard.

The grant was supported within a project „Quality internal grants BUT“ an OP VVV program (reg. No.: CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/19_073/0016948).

News

It is over! Or not?

10.02.2023

So we successfully finished our small project in January 2023. All the project´s outcomes were met! (BIG YYEY!) No major changes were introduced, moreover, the team stayed the same through out the project. What now you might ask? We plan to pursue our dream of an actual flight mission based on the proposal we introduced. Currently, we are also negotiating actual flight opportunities for some of our´s modules to obtain a flight heritage. And last but not least, we are also in contact with international partners (AT) aiming to develop more CubeSat activities within our institute. Before a big goodbye, we would like to share some of the photos from the actual BUTCube 1U demonstrator assembly and integration that was performed in January 2023 within IAE BUT premises.

Impact article finally published

10.01.2023

Our journal article "Low Earth Orbit determination in small satellite mission proposal for corona observation of close solar surface region" will be published in February issue of Acta Astronautica! You can follow the link to read the article. In the article, we describe the flight mission proposal that we developed within BUTCube project. We would like to express our gratitude to all people involved.

73rd International Astronautical Congress 2022, we are coming!

05.08.2022

We are thrilled to announce that we will be part of 3-GTS.4. Student Team Competition at 73rd International Astronautical Congress 2022 in Paris during Sep 18 - 22! Currently, we are preparing our manuscript called "BUTCube – Road for CubeSat in-orbit Solar Eclipse Observation mission utilizing 1U demonstrator" in which we will summarize our mission proposal. You may find the accepted abstract here.

CDW 2022 successfully passed!

13.05.2022

At the end of April, Tomas and Vaclav attended CubeSat Developers Workshop 2022 in San Luis Obispo. To our surprise, the team had an opportunity to give an oral presentation during second day of the conference. Conference stream record is available on CubeSat YouTube!

CubeSat Developers Workshop

12.03.2022

We are very excited to announce that BUTCube team will be joining this year´s CubeSat Developers Workshop 2022 at Cal Poly for the poster presentation!

Tomáš and Václav will be presenting the poster, reporting about our progress over the last year. The conference will be held from April 26–28, 2022 in San Luis Obispo, California.

Challenges

15.12.2021

November and December brought up some challenges for BUTCube team. Apart from the overall project´s revision and submission of the interim report, the team focused on the frame design updates, search of new suitable orbits and EPS integration. Originally designed mosfet connection for the kill switches management turned out to be non-functional during the EPS tests. Nevertheless, the team did not give up and managed to revive the connection thanks to risky repair. On the picture below, you can see the mosfet gate bridging. PS: length of the wire on the picture is just 3mm!

EPS - Electrical Power System

27.10.2021

Electrical Power System is one of the systems that might be found on every satellite. BUTCube is not different. During the October, our EPS PCB design was finished and the board production was ordered. The EPS will manage and distribute electrical energy within the satellite. EPS development is complicated and long process, during which it is necessary to design a functional system, select components, design the component layout on the board and design the routes. Manufactured board can be than fitted with components and tested. Speaking about fitting and testing, these are the objectives of our HW team for the November!

Footage in TV

19.9.2021

On Saturday 11.9.2021, a TV reportage about our BUTCube project was broadcasted within a ČT: Týden v regionech (Brno). Within a TV show named "About science and scientists: Small satellite" we discussed the CubeSats, their opportunities and especially our project´s objectives and vision. Apart from the 3D printed model, the model dispenser is also featured. The shooting was done at FSI and FIT premises on 24th August 2021. Reportage may be found on following link: BUTCUbe in television.

The first 3D printed model!

26.8.2021

Both structure concept proposals were finished and rated based on the featured criterions. During the August, the preferred structural design was printed (1U - 1:1). The model allowed team to test the solar panels mounting and accessibility to the inner HW cage. PLA and ASA filaments were used for the 3D print. At the same time, the EPS (Electric Power System) proposal was finished and documented on 34 pages. Now, it is time to review both HW and structural parts. #thisisdevelopment

Satellite´s preliminary design revealed

1.7.2021

During the last months a preliminary construction concepts were developed. One of the designs proposals is the "Cage" concept. Majority of the electronics and HW are integrated within the cage. This solution provides many advantages - namely the accessibility to the electronics and easy manipulation.

Solar pannels design

1.5.2021

HW group have presented a customized Solar panels design for the BUTCube CubeSat. Currently, the panels attachment to the main structure and components purchaces are being handled!

BUTCube mission brainstorming

11.3.2021

Using MS Teams, a BUTCube-team organized brainstorming was conducted to review the possible mission objectives. Apart from BUTCube´s team members, the Institute of Aerospace Engineering´s Ph.D. students and employees also attended the event. Various topics such as space debris, space rendezvous and Earth observation missions were discussed.

About project

BUTCube is a doctoral student grant elaboreted on Brno University of Technology since 1.2.2021. The primary objective of the BUTCube is a development and manufacture of a 1U CubeSat Engineering Test Unit with a scientific mission onboard. A five member team is composed of Ph.D. students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Information Technology . BUTCube represents a very first CubeSat´s development project on BUT.

Small satellites in a cubic shape known as CubeSats are the unique opportunity to design and execute a relatively low-cost experiments in orbit. BUTCube is an innovative project focused on research of the 3D printed CubeSats capabilities. The mission of a two-year project is to demonstrate the technology adaptation in our academia conditions, to develop a CubeSat´s prototype and to integrate the customized HW and scientific mission oboard. An additive manufacturing implementation for the structural parts, laboratory testing and preliminary flight design definition are goals within a project.

BUTCube: small satellite technology demonstrator development was supported in BUT Ingernal Grant Competition. The Internal Grant Competition is implemented under the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education, within the project Kvalitní interní granty VUT (KInG VUT); reg. number: CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/19_073/0016948.

Team

Václav Lazar

Institute of Aerospace Engineering
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Since my childhood, I was fascinated with space technologies. In 2018, I was honoured to attend an international ESA training course in Belgium.
Since than, I focus on space equipment testing and thermal analytics. As a team leader, I believe in BUTCube´s mission legacy - in both scientific and educational field.

Tomáš Láznička

Institute of Physical Engineering
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

As a member of the team, I participate in the design of the satellite structure, goals of the mission and physical simulation. In my dissertation I focus on microfluidic chips and cryo electron microscopy, I focus mainly on the design. In my free time I dedicate to design and construction of various machines, the cultivation of agricultural crops and fruit trees.

Jaroslav Bartoněk

Institute of Aerospace Engineering
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

As a team member, he is responsible for design, load and structural analyses of the cubesat and calculation of the orbit. In his free time, he is a pilot of strange, but lovely flying machines, and a tourist, programmer and occasionally he builds airplane kits. He comes from Brno, Czech Republic.

Petr Malaník

Department of Intelligent Systems
Faculty of Information Technology

As part of the development, I participate in CubeSat hardware and software. Specifically, I work on solar panels, battery / power management and control unit.My area of research is primarily the retina of the human eye, both from a medical and biometric point of view. I am working on a device that is able to automatically scan the retina and propose a diagnosis. In addition, I work on electronics associated with UAV (mainly data collection). In addition to work and research, I spend my time to 3D printing and home automation, I also fly FPV drones which I design and construct.

Štěpán Rydlo

Department of Intelligent Systems
Faculty of Information Technology

Within the team, I focus on CubeSat´s communication, hardware and programming. Apart from my BUTCube activites, I am programmator.

© 2021, BUTCube, irydlo@fit.vutbr.cz.