The Icarus student satellite project

Students from the University of Michigan have developed a small satellite-dubbed Icarus-to serve as an active endmass for NASA's ProSEDS (Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System) electrodynamic-tether propulsion mission. The ProSEDS experiment will be launched in early 2004 as a secondary payload attached to the second stage of a Delta-II rocket. Following the completion of the Delta-II primary mission, the Icarus endmass satellite will be cast off from the Delta-II second stage, deploying a 12 km space tether. Throughout tether deployment, and for the duration of the ProSEDS mission, Icarus will collect and transmit data on tether deployment and dynamics. The endmass is responsible for providing tether-endbody location information (using a GPS receiver) and endbody attitude dynamics (using an aspect magnetometer). The data from these instruments will be stored and transmitted to ground telemetry stations. This paper details the Icarus satellite system and lessons learned from the project.