Oculus-ASR is a nanosatellite currently being constructed by students at Michigan Technological University. The nanosatellite vehicle is being developed as part of the University Nanosatellite Program, which is currently in its sixth iteration (known as UN-6). The UN-6 program is hosted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

The Oculus-ASR nanosatellite is being developed to aid in the advancement of U.S. Space Situational Awareness. It accomplishes this in two ways: telescope calibration and space-to-space imaging. First, the Oculus-ASR will provide calibration opportunities with a vehicle of known optical characteristics for observation by the Attitude and Shape Recognition program's ground-based telescopes. Second, the Oculus-ASR will be capable of acquiring, imaging, tracking, and monitoring objects within the local vicinity of the vehicle.

The Oculus-ASR Nanosatellite Program is an organization of students working with industry sponsors. The students, mostly undergraduates, have done the vast majority of work on the vehicle – from concept sketches to subsystem and system-wide testing. The program is divided into seven subteams: Mission Analysis, Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC), Imaging, On-Board Data and Command (OBDC), Power, Structures, and Telecommunications. For more information on these teams, see the links in the sidebar menu on the left.

THE UNIVERSITY NANOSATELLITE PROGRAM

The University Nanosatellite Program is a competition hosted by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RVSV). The program receives additional support and funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The goal of the University Nanosatellite Program is to educate students for future employment in the aerospace industry by giving them real-world experience working on satellite design, fabrication, and testing. This is accomplished by hosting a 2-year competition during which teams from universities are given a budget of $110,000 with which to design and build their own nanosatellite. From a pool of applicants, the top 10-12 universities are selected to participate in the University Nanosatellite Program. The winner of the competition is determined by a panel of judges from industries and government agencies working in the field of small satellites, and the winning team is provided a launch opportunity for their vehicle. For more information, see the University Nanosatellite Program website.

HISTORY

Michigan Tech first took part in the University Nanosatellite Program in 2003 with the start of the third iteration of the competition (UN-3). In UN-3, the Michigan Tech team took third place with its nanosatellite system dubbed "HuskySat", after the Michigan Tech’s mascot.

Using the experience and knowledge gained during the UN-3 competition, Michigan Tech sought industry partners and applied for the competition's fifth iteration in the fall of 2006. The team immediately set to work designing a satellite for the UN-5 competition in September of 2006 and hit the ground running when the program officially began in January of 2007. The UN-5 vehicle was named “Oculus” and had the mission of demonstrating space-to-space imaging. Michigan Tech was awarded third place in UN-5 and also received an award for its excellent K-12 education program.

For the current University Nanosatellite Program competition (UN-6), the nanosatellite team at Michigan Tech will be continuing development of the Oculus vehicle as well as extending its functionality to include telescope calibration. To reflect this additional functionality, the vehicle has been termed “Oculus-ASR”.

CONTACTS
Project Manager: Phil Hohnstadt –
Lead Systems Engineer: Tom Venturino –