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Design and pre-flight testing of the electrical power system for the ESTCube-1 nanosatellite; pp. 232–241
Open accessAbstract
This work describes the final design and implementation of the electrical power system for ESTCube-1, a 1-unit CubeSat tasked with testing the electrostatic tether concept and associated technologies for the electric solar wind sail in polar low Earth orbit. The mission required an efficient and reliable power system to be designed that could efficiently handle highly variable power requirements and protect the satellite from damage caused by malfunctions in its individual subsystems, while using only commercial-off-the-shelf components. The system was developed from scratch and includes a novel redundant stand-alone nearly 90% efficient maximum power point tracking system, based on a commercially available integrated circuit, a lithium-ion battery based fault-tolerant power storage solution, a highly controllable and monitorable power distribution system, capable of sustaining loads of up to 10 W, and an AVR microcontroller based control solution, heavily utilizing non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories. The electrical power system was finalized in January 2013 and was launched into orbit on 7th of May, 2013. In this paper, we describe the requirements for the subsystem, the design of the subsystem, pre-flight testing, and flight qualification.
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References 22 · Cited by 30
Research works printed but not linked: 22
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Metadata
- Authors
- Pajusalu, M., Ilbis, E., Ilves, T., Veske, M., Kalde, J., Lillmaa, H., Rantsus, R., Pelakauskas, M., Leitu, A., Voormansik, K., Allik, V., Lätt, S., Envall, J., & Noorma, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Tartu Observatory (EE)
- Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- Estonian Academy Publishers
- Published
- 2014-05-16
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 2S
- Pages
- 232-241
- ISSN
- 1736-6046 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2006526136
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 6.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia
- European Space Agency
- Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutus
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Satellite Systems and Control
- Keywords
- CubeSat, satellite power systems, electric solar wind sail, maximum power point tracking, lithium-ion batteries, distribution networks, AVR microcontroller, ferroelectric random access memory, pre-flight testing, flight qualification, commercial off-the-shelf components, low Earth orbit
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Design and pre-flight testing of the electrical power system for the ESTCube-1 nanosatellite; pp. 232–241. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3176/proc.2014.2s.04
- The paper
- Pajusalu, M., Ilbis, E., Ilves, T., Veske, M., Kalde, J., Lillmaa, H., Rantsus, R., Pelakauskas, M., Leitu, A., Voormansik, K., Allik, V., Lätt, S., Envall, J., & Noorma, M. (2014). Design and pre-flight testing of the electrical power system for the ESTCube-1 nanosatellite; pp. 232–241. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3176/proc.2014.2s.04
