CapSat-1: Testing the Voltage Efficiency of Capacitors Used to Replace Lithium-Ion Batteries as a Function of Time in the Space Environment (2021)

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-0693.vid The CapSat-1 CubeSat mission proposal was submitted to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) program in November of 2018. This mission was submitted on behalf of an extracurricular program known as The Wolverine CubeSat Development Team (WCDT), located within the Weiss School, a K-8th school for the gifted in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The WCDT program had launched a CubeSat prior, known as the WeissSat-1. The Weiss School remains the only middle school program nationwide to have successfully launched a CubeSat with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The CapSat-1 was submitted along with four other CubeSat proposals. Each proposal that was submitted utilized the experience each student gained prior when developing the WeissSat-1 mission. Students from The Weiss School have presented at NASA headquarters, multiple International Astronautical Congresses, the International SmallSat Conference, and many other local, statewide, and national conferences. The Weiss School was specifically selected to present in these conferences for its experience in the field of aerospace engineering and its novelty of allowing younger middle school students to develop their own satellite missions. The CapSat-1 is a technology demonstration mission that was selected on March 14th, 2019 through NASA’s tenth annual round of their CSLI program. This mission proposal is designed to validate a capacitor-based electrical power system in a 1U CubeSat. Currently, all CubeSats use lithium-ion polymer batteries as their primary source of power. Capacitors have been proven to be safer, more cost/volume-efficient, and more temperature-durable than lithium-ion polymer batteries. This mission would validate their power/voltage efficiency and compare that to the status quo of the electrical power system (EPS) in CubeSats today. The CapSat-1 is planned to be nearly fully solar-powered, with a secondary supply power of a lithium-ion polymer battery in case the capacitors were to fail under the supply of the satellite’s solar panels. The mission itself has a secondary mission of technological demonstration. The capacitor has already been proven through terrestrial research to have much greater durability, safety, and longevity factors than the lithium-ion polymer battery. This project would prove one aspect of these batteries that has not been established: their voltage and power consumption efficiency in the radiating/heat-inducing conditions of the space environment compared to the standard lithium-ion polymer battery. This CubeSat will launch as a 1U, and its launch date is expected to commence within mid-to-late 2021. It has been the job of the mission’s Co-Investigator to develop the CapSat-1 and to ensure that it will undergo all requirements for launch. Though its secondary mission is a technology demonstration, the CapSat-1’s primary mission is education. The CapSat-1 mission, being developed by middle school students, is enabling young engineers to receive hands-on experiential learning through developing, building, testing, and launching a satellite. The mission was initially submitted under the leadership of a 7th-grade middle school student and is now being developed by a 9th-grade Co-Investigator. The CapSat-1 Mission Principal Investigator, a middle school educator and national award winner Kevin Simmons, and its Co-Investigator look forward to presenting and discussing this CubeSat mission at the 2020 AIAA SciTech Conference.