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Context

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have developed a low-cost star sensor for astronomy and small CubeSat class satellite missions. The star sensor named Starberry-Sense can help small CubeSat class satellite missions find their orientation in space.

Star Sensor

• Any satellite needs to know where it is pointed in space, and the instrument used for this purpose is called a star sensor.
• The position of stars in the sky is fixed relative to each other and can be used as a stable reference frame to calculate the orientation of a satellite in orbit. This is done by correctly identifying the stars in the sky towards which the star sensor is pointed.
• The star sensor is essentially a celestial compass.

High cost of Star Sensors

• In recent years CubeSats and small satellite missions have gained huge popularity. These missions utilize commercially available components for their design and development, but the typical cost of a commercially available star sensor often exceeds the total budget for a CubeSat.

Starberry-Sense

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and their collaborators have now developed a star sensor for astronomy and small satellite CubeSat class missions.
• Based on commercial/off-the-shelf (COTS) components, this star sensor costs less than 10% of those available in the market. The brain of the instrument is a single-board Linux computer called Raspberry Pi, which is widely used among electronics hobby enthusiasts.
• They could demonstrate that instruments built from easily available components can be qualified for space.
• The system was developed around the very popular Raspberry Pi Zero (a 1 GHz single-board computer, smaller than a credit card) as the main processing unit and its camera module. The entire setup is housed inside a protective aerospace-grade aluminum enclosure.
• StarBerry-Sense captures sky images and identifies the stars in the field by comparing their location with an onboard catalog of bright stars.
• The information is then used to identify which part of the sky the star sensor is looking at, helping locate the orientation of the satellite.

Closing Remarks

• The main advantage of the Starberry-Sense system is the low cost and the short development cycle with Commercial-off-the-shelf components which are readily available.
• Its modular design allows for quick and easy customization for various requirements. For e.g., even though StarBerry-Sense is meant for space-based applications, a modified version will be interfaced with the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE), located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle, Ladakh.
• The Starberry-Sense is ready for launch on the PS4-Orbital Platform by ISRO and can be used for CubeSats and other small satellite missions in the future.

https://dst.gov.in/astronomers-develop-low-cost-alternative-satellites-orient-themselves-space

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