NORBY CubeSat nanosatellite: Design challenges and the first flight data

Abstract

The paper presents the NORBY 6U CubeSat nanosatellite' launched on 28 September 2020 into a low-Earth orbit. The design of NORBY is briefly described' the main characteristics of its subsystems are given' and the results of the first flight tests are presented. The main features of the NORBY design are full hardware duplication of all subsystems and information interfaces' as well as the use of LoRa modulation in radio communications between the satellite and a ground station. The first results of the NORBY flight tests confirm the effectiveness of the key technical solutions applied in the NORBY design. For the first time' the operability of the LoRa modulation in satellite radio communications has been experimentally confirmed. The LoRa satellite-to-ground radio channel functioned sustainably at all tested parameters.