CC4CC

CubeSat Constellation for Climate Change

Challenge :

As humans continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, oceans have tempered the effect. The world’s seas have absorbed more than 90 percent of the heat from these gases, but it’s taking a toll on our oceans: 2021 set a new record for ocean heating. Sea level rise (SLR) is linked to the following primary factors, all induced by ongoing global climate change: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms. When sea levels rise as rapidly as they have been, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats farther inland, it can cause destructive erosion, wetland flooding, aquifer and agricultural soil contamination with salt, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants. Already, flooding in low-lying coastal areas is forcing people to migrate to higher ground, and millions more are vulnerable from flood risk and other climate change effects.

Short description of the solution :

CC4CC will design and develop a Small Flying Object (SFO) CubeSat Constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to obtain daily measurements of global and regional changes in Sea level rise. CC4CC will determine the orbital parameters and characteristics of the necessary constellation to ensure optimal coverage and revisit time. Different aspects of both conventional satellites and CubeSats will be compared, such as: the accuracy of measurements, revisit time, data transmission capabilities and an estimate of the whole mission financial budget.
In addition, a proper mission operational concept will be developed considering the optimization of data management.
The project will focus on the development and integration of a new technology based on Ka transmitter, thereby lowering the cost and increasing the frequency and quality of remote sensing data. The CC4CC will establish a CubeSat constellation to provide regular daily measurements bringing CubeSats into common & affordable use for SLR measurement lowering the cost & increasing the frequency & quality of remote sensing data.

Project objective :

The main project objective is to assess the feasibility of developing a constellation of multiple CubeSats and receive daily measurements of the Sea level in smaller coastal areas, primarily in vulnerable regions. It will be achieved by pursuing the following sub-objectives:
• define the mission requirements to satisfy the scientific goals,
• identify the mission architectures in terms of ground segment, space segment and launch segment,
• define the optimal constellation to satisfy the mission requirements in term of coverage, visibility, and revisit time,
• identify the optimal satellite platform to perform the mission, considering commercial off-the-shelf solutions,
• implement the actual CubeSat data rate capability through the validation of a Ka transmitter,
• integrate the Ka transmitter on the bus,
• validate the overall system (satellite + transmitter) qualifying it for commercial
• launch with the traditional environmental and functional tests.
• engage with stakeholders and develop a plan for commercialisation and exploitation.

 Expected results :

CC4CC will demonstrate the feasibility of establishing a constellation of multiple CubeSats to have daily measurements of smaller coastal areas, especially in vulnerable regions. The project will focus on the development and integration of a new technology based on Ka transmitter, which will provide real-time daily global measurements at higher resolutions than existing missions and will bring CubeSats into common and affordable use for Sea Level Rise.