Integration, testing, and operations of the CanX-1 picosatellite and the design of the CanX-2 attitude determination and control system

The availability of new miniaturized electronics and science instruments enables small, low cost spacecraft to perform what used to require much larger satellites. The Canadian Advanced Nanosatellite experiment (CanX) program was created at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory to develop and launch small, low-cost satellites. This thesis aims to describe the integration and system level testing of the first satellite, CanX-1, launched in June 2003. Furthermore, satellite operations planning and results are presented along with a list of issues that were encountered and a summary of lessons learned by the CanX-1 team. An overview of the preliminary design of the follow-on satellite is presented as a background for a discussion of the design of the CanX-2 attitude determination and control system. This discussion outlines the control laws and attitude determination scheme used along with the design assumptions and pertinent simulation results.