Development of back-plane connector board for VELOX-Lyon-1 Student CubeSat

Abstract

CubeSats are a type of miniature satellite typically classified as nanosatellites and are usually used for space science research. They follow a standardized dimension and are often built with non-space parts and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for cost effectiveness. It is normally built by students from universities for educational purposes. Conventionally, most CubeSat uses the PC-104 form factor for stacking its different subsystems together. This way of stacking the subsystems together is found to be not very efficient and causes the assembly process of the satellite to be quite tedious at times. Connecting the subsystems together electrically is a very important aspect of the CubeSat and finding an alternate way to connect the subsystems together can greatly help to improve the overall assembly process of a CubeSat. The purpose of this project is hence to design a back-plane connector board which will connect the subsystems of the CubeSat together via horizontal stacking instead of vertical stacking using the PC-104 form factor. Horizontal stacking will enable the subsystem to be integrated together via a ‘Plug and Play’ design. This will considerably ease the assembly process and improve reliability of the integration.