GW-Sat: GW\u27s First Satellite with Propulsive 3-Axis-Stabilization

The George Washington University’s proposed satellite mission, GW-Sat, was one of the 34 missions selected by NASA as part of the CubeSat Launch Initiative program. The CubeSat will be built entirely by students from different departments and schools at the university. GW-Sat is a 3 U CubeSat and its primary mission is to validate its propulsion system based on in-house built Micro-Cathode Arc Thrusters. The thrusters will be used to provide the spacecraft with 3-axis stabilization and the ability to perform station-keeping maneuvers, and therefore, increase the mission’s lifetime. In addition to this, the CubeSat will be used to perform secondary science missions, which include relaying information from a remote ground station using the store-forward architecture and the effect of the thruster’s plasma discharges on radio communications