IT-SPINS; it enters orbit

While numerous experiments occur on our home planet, MSU’s Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) has focused its experiments beyond Earth’s surface with its new satellite. On Saturday, Feb. 20, a bread loaf-sized satellite referred to as IT-SPINS, designed and built by MSU, launched aboard a cargo resupply to outer space.

The Ionospheric-Thermospheric Scanning Photometer for Ion-Neutral Studies (IT-SPINS) mission will use two-dimensional (2D) tomographic imaging —the first of its kind— to measure the properties of Earth’s atmosphere at the edge of outer space. After arriving at the International Space Station later this spring, IT-SPINS will be propelled into orbit where it will begin a six month mission.

“IT-SPINS is a scientific investigation to study changes in the composition of the ionosphere over time,” David Klumpar, director of the SSEL, said. “The data will increase understanding of the relative roles of different drivers that cause variations in the mass species distribution in the near-Earth plasma environment. The study will lead to improved forecasting of ‘space weather’ in which variations in solar radiation cause the number and intensity of ions to increase, sometimes interfering with satellites and orbiting spacecraft.”

The project began in 2015 with the help of a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Nearly every part of the satellite, except for the sensor, was developed at MSU. The design team created the satellite’s solar panels, batteries, communications hardware and numerous computerized controls. Most of the designing and construction of the satellite was split up among 30 students, mainly engineering and computer science majors, along with the help of SSEL staff. Former MSU student and current research engineer in the SSEL, Nevin Leh, contributed to this project during his junior and senior years. He programmed the software on the satellite that sends commands to the satellite, tracks its location as it orbits Earth and downloads its collected data.

IT-SPINS’ sensor was created by the nonprofit research institute SRI International. The sensor will measure ultraviolet light emitted by charged particles or ions located in Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere.

In order to see whether IT-SPINS is capable of its journey in space, several tests were completed in labs on campus. One such test placed the satellite in a vacuum chamber and cycled the temperature between minus 20 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit to represent the sun and shade the satellite will encounter as it orbits the Earth 14 times per day.

“This satellite was more sophisticated and had more capability than our previous missions,” Klumpar said. “The effort to build it to satisfy the requirements took longer than expected. One major challenge was to teach the satellite how to automatically orient itself in the right direction continuously as it orbits the Earth. The so-called Attitude Determination and Control System that accomplishes this has many sensors and actuators to achieve the required pointing along with complex software for control.”

Using software developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, MSU researchers will be able to analyze the data downloaded from IT-SPINS as it passes within line-of-sight of the MSU campus a couple of times per day.

Two more projects, which will put additional satellites into orbit, are on the horizon for SSEL. A large solar physics experiment is also in development that will fly on a sounding rocket and a one-ton payload to measure X-rays from the top of the atmosphere. According to Klumpar, “Perhaps, the most exciting of all, however, is an experiment in development that will land and operate on the surface of the Moon in 2024.”

Visit http://www.ssel.montana.edu/ to read about other satellites designed and built by students in SSEL and scroll to the bottom of the page to view a satellite tracker of those satellites in low-Earth orbit.