Design, Analysis, and Testing of the NorSat-3 Microsatellite Mission Communications Subsystem

The NorSat-3 microsatellite will use a combination of Automatic Identification System data and civilian navigation radar to track cooperative and non-cooperative maritime targets. NorSat-3 leverages a Space Flight Laboratory designed and built spacecraft bus, and extends the performance provided by the communications subsystem offered on previous missions. A design for the communications subsystem is proposed which maximizes the use of heritage components, consisting of an uplink system, high speed uplink system, and downlink system. Spacecraft antennas are positioned to optimize performance for all payload and bus antennas during the navigation radar detector payload operations. Analyses and testing performed on this design prove that the links meet requirements on link margin, data throughput, gain coverage, and incident power. The implementation of this design on NorSat-3 will demonstrate the capabilities of microsatellites and improve upon the spacecraft bus design.M.A.S