Design and Development of AOBA VELOX-IV Nanosatellite for Future Lunar Horizon Glow Mission

This paper highlights the mission, design and development of the 2U CubeSat AOBA VELOX-IV by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), Japan. The satellite mission is the precursor for future lunar exploration missions, addressing the challenges in attitude and orbit control of a nanosatellite in Moon’s orbit. Innovation includes miniature four-head pulsed plasma thruster for orbit maintenance, attitude control, momentum dumping; low-light camera with horizon sensing capability; and synchronized ground stations to locate the satellite using downlink signals. The satellite design must pass intensive safety reviews by JAXA; some design revisions due to launch requirements, such as hold-down and release mechanism redundancy, power inhibits, and structure, will be discussed. Development of AOBA VELOX-IV follows the proto-flight model (PFM) approach. A flat satellite was built to interface hardware and test firmware. A structural thermal model (STM) was assembled with subsystems QM/EM and went through qualification tests to confirm the design. AOBA VELOX-IV is scheduled to be launched into low Earth’s orbit by JAXA in Q1 2019. Integration of the satellite PFM completed in April 2018, followed by acceptance tests in NTU and Kyutech during May - July 2018