Delfi-C3: a student nanosatellite as a test-bed for thin film solar cells and wireless onboard communication

For the past decade, satellite design has been an important discipline at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. A major change of the predominantly theoretical nature of the satellite projects came into being in 2004, with the completion of an in-house Class 100.000 Clean Room. Along with equipment in laboratories located at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, this facility enables Delft University to not only design, but to actually produce and assemble a small student satellite in house as well. Learning about this affordable access to space, the space company Dutch Space approached the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering to discuss the possibility to test a new type of thin film solar cells in the space environment. In addition, the Dutch research institute TNO Science & Industry showed interest to join in with an autonomous Sun Sensor using a wireless link for data transfer. A third new technology is an advanced high efficiency transceiver sized for application in pico- and nanosatellites. With these three new technologies as primary payloads and the space proven CubeSat concept as a basic principle of design, the Delfi-C3 nanosatellite is to be the first satellite that is designed and realized at Delft University of Technology. The paper discusses the Delfi-C3 mission and its design philosophy. Furthermore, a description of its subsystems and payloads is given. Delfi-C3 is scheduled for a piggyback launch by the end of 2006.