Bus

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The satellite Bus, highlighted in green in the diagram at the left, is responsible for keeping the satellite powered, in the correct orbit, at a stable temperature, and in contact with the ground. Currently, students and researchers at MIT are working to refine and solidify the designs of the Bus subsystems, which include Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC), Thermal, Propulsion, Structures, Power, Communications, Attitude Determination and Control (ADC), and Command and Data Handling (C&DH).

The MIT Bus team is bringing each bus subsystem to a cohesive PDR-level design, building on the initial Bus designs, which were developed by a team at the University of Washington. Besides the Bus hardware, the team is also responsible for plotting the orbit of the satellite, selecting compatible ground stations and determining communication coverage and eclipse times, when the satellite is in the shadow of the Earth and is not receiving sunlight.

Moving forward, the team will be focused on selecting hardware, validating thermal and structural designs, and defining in greater detail the tasks and order of operations for the Command and Data Handling subsystem (C&DH) - which controls the Bus while it is orbiting the Earth.

Other Teams: Science  |  Payload  |  Systems  |  Bus  |  Entry, Decent, & Landing

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