Master Thesis - OUFTI-1

Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 The CubeSat program
1.1.1 The concept
The OUFTI-1 project takes place in the CubeSat program initiated approximately 10
years ago jointly by California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) and Stanford University.
This program aims to provide an easier access to space by creating a standard based
on the following features:
• The mass of the satellite must be less than 1 kg (1.33 kg in the last version of the
CubeSat Design Specication (CDS) [1], but this version stands not for the Vega
Maiden Flight on board which OUFTI-1 will be launched).
• The shape of the satellite must be a cube of 10 × 10 × 10 cm.
This standard allows to create satellites in a short development time. In addition, owing
to their small size, CubeSats can take place in a space launcher as secondary payloads,
which is less expensive. For all of this reasons, the CubeSat program meets a great success
with universities and industries.
At the moment, the project involves more than 100 universities, high schools or private
rms all over the world developing CubeSats containing scientic, private and governments
payloads. All these developers are linked together by a great community spirit, and each
one benets from the sharing of information between the several teams [1].
However, it is important to note that, owing to constraints listed above, the development
of a CubeSat is a technical challenge, even if it is faster and cheaper than the development
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