A SMALL SATELLITE FOR MEASURING ATMOSPHERIC WATER CONTENT; PART I, DOWNLINK AND COMMAND SYSTEMS

Abstract

This student paper was produced as part of the team design competition in the University of Arizona course ECE 485, Radiowaves and Telemetry. It describes a telemetering system design recommendation for a small satellite capable of conducting scientific research regarding atmospheric water content. This paper focuses on the subsystems required to send the scientific data and monitored operational conditions from the satellite to, and commands to the satellite from, a ground station. A companion paper (Hittle, et. al.) focuses on the cross-link subsystem required to make the scientific measurements and on the power generation and distribution subsystem for the satellite.