Cubesat Constellation Architecture to Support Space-based Property Claims

Jacob A. J. Irwin, J.L. Galache and Eric D. Ward (Berkelyn)

	To accelerate low-cost access to extraterrestrial ownership and usage rights, we present a system for providing big data collection and distribution to support the needs of public and private actors’ access to space-based property appropriations. Accessible interfaces that serve to streamline the functionalities necessary to support independent claims on property, which is currently a missing essential layer preventing humanity’s expedited progress in space exploration and development of an in-space economy. The proposed system integrates software and hardware—a closed-loop management and control sys- tem—that codifies in-space activities attributes and may lend to a novel protocol stan- dardization heuristic for asserting and reinforcing independent claims for ownership of celestial matter and rights for performing activities in pre-designated regions of space.

	The proposed system software provides a streamlined process through which times- tamped transmissions may be decrypted, encrypted, handles, and stored; global po- sitioning system (GPS) information may be accurately calculated and recorded; se- cure communications capabilities for transmissions throughout the constellation net- work and with third-party communications services providers; mission-ready software for tracking and navigation; and qualification documentation generation for validating ownership claims (to be further evaluation by authoritative agencies, such as interna- tional governing and sovereign nation-state level regulatory bodies).

	The proposed system hardware is comprised of such integral components both typical of a traditional satellite network mission and, also, specific to the requirements of the newly proposed picosatellite constellation: CubeSat construction materials; mission-defined picosatellite-mounted sensors and instrumentation; solar arrays; gyro- scopes; miniature ion thrusters; and antennae. The physical satellite hardware consists of lightweight sensors aboard picosatellite chassis (each between 0.25U and .5U in size) housed within a larger CubeSat locker (between 4U and 6U in size). Each picosat is in- dividually deployable from its parent housing, the nanosatellite-sized lockers. Once the parent nanosatellite reaches its mission-defined position in geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), individual picosatellites are precisely deployed to rendezvous with (reach orbit or land on) strategically pre-selected natural small bodies. The proposed system works with external larger scale interplanetary and/or interstellar communications networks, offloading higher-level tasks. Future advancements for this system’s technology are also explored, including improvements in secure communication using quantum key distribution and modularity in the CubeSat design and construction for instrumentation extensionality for: local (interplanetary) data collection with miniature lightweight X-ray optics, such as composition analysis with X-ray fluorescence imaging); and deep space (interstellar) navigation with X-ray pulsar-based timing