## 2 Initiation of the Project
### General Facilities  
To conduct a CubeSat mission, the development team requires a different set of facilities for each phase of the project, i.e., fabrication, assembly, integration, test, and operation. A workshop with a milling machine, drills, saws, and other power tools is suitable for the fabrication of simple structural parts and making small modification to the existing ones. Additionally, a computer numerical control (CNC) machine may provide the development team with some manufacturing autonomy at the cost of having qualified personnel. An additive manufacturing machine may also increase the efficiency of the development team for rapid prototyping purposes or fabricating some supporting components. A soldering station equipped with, lenses, irons, a stable bench, and an extractor for the fumes is crucial to make quality electronic board assemblies and fabricate cable harnesses.  
Once all components are built either in-house or outsourced, they must be cleaned, inspected, and integrated together in a controlled environment, to pass the cleanliness requirements. For CubeSats, such requirements usually restrict the manipulation of the flight unit in a cleanroom of FED_STD-209E class 10,000. Such class number refers to the maximum amount of particles with a size of 0.5 \(\upmu\)m or larger that are allowed in a cubic foot of air. Although the FED_STD-209E classification is still commonly used among CubeSat developers, the standard has been superseded by the ISO 14644-1 standard [37]. A FED_STD-209E class 10,000 is equivalent to a class ISO 7. It should be noted that, in order to minimize the amount of suspended particles in the cleanroom environment, it is required that the operators wear lint-free coats, head covers, masks, shoe covers, and gloves. Additionally, the cleanroom must be equipped with tools for integrating electronic components, such as properly grounded anti-electrostatic-discharge mats and wristbands (Figure 3). The cleanroom also requires instrument to perform electric and functional tests, including a computer, multimeter, function generator, power supply, and oscilloscope.  
Most functional tests can be performed in a cleanroom. However, qualification tests must be performed at sites with specialized facilities that may be expensive to own and operate, such as electric shaker and thermal-vacuum chamber. More details on such equipment are provided in the Verification and Validation section.  
Finally, the mission relies on having at least one ground station to communicate with the CubeSat. A ground station suitable for a CubeSat mission usually operates in the VHF and UHF bands, i.e., 144-146 MHz and 435-438 MHz for the amateur region 1. Missions that require a wider bandwidth to download science data may also operate in the S-band, between 2.40 and 2.45 GHz in the amateur band. It should be noted that to improve the gain of the ground station, directional antennas should be used together with a pointing mechanism. Such antennas need to be installed in an open spacious area, typically a rooftop (Figure 4).  
The length of a Yagi antenna for the VHF band is 2 m, and 70 cm for a UHF antenna. Antennas operating in the S-band are more effectively designed with a dish or patch shape. To amplify the signal modulated by a radio transceiver, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) with a power output between 10 W and 100 W is sufficient for LEO missions. Additionally, a computer is necessary as the operator's interface as well as for generating command signals, tracking the satellite, tuning the transceiver, controlling the power output, pointing the antennas, etc.  
Figure 3: An overview of LTU’s cleanroom used for the development of SE01.