SOC-i

SOC-i [University of Washington]

SOC-i (Satellite for Optimal Control and Imaging) is a technology demonstration that will demonstrate an experimental attitude control scheme on orbit and provide educational opportunities to students at the University of Washington, Seattle.

SOC-i uses an in-house developed and built a 2U CubeSat satellite bus.

The experimental GNC system is capable of reorienting the spacecraft while guaranteeing hard pointing constraints and minimizing the power drawn by the set of four reaction wheels. To orient the SOC-i spacecraft, the GNC system uses the 4RW0 reaction wheels from NanoAvionics as the primary actuators for the attitude control system. Five magnetorquers complement these wheels, and are built in to the solar panels on each face except on the bottom, where the camera is located. For attitude estimation, the GNC system uses a single digital sun sensor custom-built into the solar panels, three 3-axis magnetometers, and three 3-axis gyroscopes.

The imaging system serves as one of two payloads for the SOC-i mission. A single uCam-III from 4D Systems as on-board camera was selected. The camera is mounted on the bottom end of the 2U chassis.

It was selected in 2020 by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) program by the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) to be launched as part of the ELaNa program.