GLADOS’ Mission
GLADOS, which stands for GLint Analyzing Data Observational Satellite, is a 6U satellite designed to act as a demonstrator that a nanosatellite can be used to collect lightcurve data from space debris while they are glinting.
www.ubnl.space
Much like the glint off a watch, a glint event is when the light source (the sun), and the observer (GLADOS) have a very small phase angle (Theta in below image). When an object glints, it reflects a large amount of light in a specific direction. This is in comparison to diffuse reflection where the light hits an object and then gets reflected in all directions mostly evenly. While these glints are much brighter than normal reflections, which allow us to see smaller objects , because of orbital geometries they can only be spotted on earth for two days a year 6 months apart. By being an orbital based sensor GLADOS extends this glint season to ~56 days a year. This allows many more observations to be made. Additionally ground based sensors must also have favorable weather conditions to take observations. In space you don’t need to worry if it will be cloudy or deal with other negative atmospheric externalities.
http://solarenergyengineering.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=1458650
My Work on Integration and Testing (I&T)
UBNL Structures model of the satellite
I started working on GLADOS in my freshman year. As a freshman I didn’t know much starting out so they trained me in satellite handling, proper soldering methods, test development, and more. As a member of I&T I got hands on experience with almost every component on the satellite. I would help assemble the engineering unit, run tests on it and then analyze the results. As the semester went on I started to specialize in science testing and was designing tests to be run on the satellite. Because of the need to keep the cameras and lenses dust free I was one of the first people to get trained for working in the clean room.
My Work as Science Lead
As the science lead it was me and my teams job to ensure that our payload, two cameras, would be able to fulfill our science mission.
www.ubnl.space
Space is a harsh environment and one of the things that we must protect the cameras from is the ever present radiation. Unlike most cameras, ours do not have shutters. This is done to minimize the number of moving parts but unfortunately it leaves our sensors exposed to a constant does of damaging radiation. While not a particularly large dose it can build up over the satellites lifespan to the point where performance would be degraded. This was mitigated by using bandpass filters that only allow light from the visible to near infrared bands of light to get to the sensors. This cut down on ultraviolet radiation getting to the sensors.
The Requirements Verification Matrix (RVM) is a project management tool that helps ensure GLADOS will be successful once in flight. One of the main points of my tenure as Science lead has been to go form having zero of our requirements experimentally verified to having all of our requirements but one being experimentally verified. The final requirement that has not been experimentally verified has been verified on the engineering unit hardware and we are currently planning on running the test on the flight hardware soon. These requirements ranged from ensuring the cameras could collect the proper light bands to ensuring that the lenses were properly blurred to help insure proper data collection.
As a graduating senior I have transitioned out of the Science lead position and for the last few months have been training my replacement. Because of the amount of specialized optical engineering knowledge involved in the Science leads role we designed this transition to be a long one.
Current Status: Under Development
Flight unit delivery to Air Force scheduled for March 2019.