Femtosat
How do I start?
Registration for the annual Spacecraft Competition opens at the club kickoff meeting. This is the best place to meet the club leaders, learn more about the competition and other projects, and get started. This meeting typically happens on the second Tuesday of each fall semester, but the time and location may change year to year. For the most up-to-date information, check clubs.byu.edu.
Can I really build a spacecraft in one semester?
Yes! You really can! We guide you and provide a lot of support:
- A starter design for part of your spacecraft
- Mentors who have built their own femtosats
- Tutorials to teach you how to build a spacecraft
- Weekly meetups for design help and reviews
You won't regret the hard work you put in to learn and compete. You can learn anything.
How much work will it take?
We won't kid you, building a spacecraft, even a tiny one, forces you to learn a lot! Depending on your experience, you'll need to put in 2-3 hours per week to be successful. However, that investment will start you on the path of honing your spacecraft skills at BYU and applying them in the space industry.
What is a spacecraft?
Spacecraft are machines that do work as they travel in space. Your spacecraft will be a thumb-sized satellite, a femtosat, that measures its environment. Spacecraft consist of two parts: the payload and the bus. The payload does the work of the mission and the bus supports the payload. Your payload is a sensor that measures its environment. Your bus includes a tiny flight computer, a battery, and a radio that transmits the sensor’s measurements to a receiver on the ground.
Score Card
The following chart is a demonstration of what your score card will look like. Your team will be in charge of maintaining this score card and making sure that a mentor signs off on each step.
| Requirement | Deadline | Sign Off |
| Passed Design Review | ||
| Passed Mission Readiness Review | ||
| Launched Femtosat | ||
| Acquired Data | ||
| Processed and Reported Data |
Design Review
During the design review your team will show your design to a mentor and have the opportunity to receive feedback. The largest portion of this review will be the design of your board, preferably before it is ordered. This gives you a chance to have your design reviewed before you order and find out it won't work.
In addition to the PCB you will need to show two other things: a system flowchart and Arduino demonstration. The flowchart will demonstrate that you understand how your whole system will work together. The Arduino demonstration will show that you are learning about programming and that you will be able to program your femtosat.
Mission Readiness Review
This will be the last review before launch. Your team will have to demonstrate that femtosat meets all design and implementation requirements, that your flight code works, that you have a data processing plan, and that all checked out items have been returned to the shop.
Launch
This is the day everyone gets excited about! Your femtosat will be attached to a model and launched hundreds of feet in the air! During that time it will be transmitting data to a ground station. A receiving radio that will receive and record the data that you send.
The only thing that you will need to bring to the launch is your femtosat. The rockets, and ground station will be provided.
To receive any prizes, your femtosat must actually launch on launch day.
Receive and Process Data
Once you acquire data you will be in charge of processing and analyzing the data. Without knowing what was learned, data is pointless. Clearly communicate what the data shows and what you learned through the entire process.
Eligibility
- All team members must be a undergraduate students, enrolled in classes at BYU.
- Your team must have at least 2 and no more than 4 members.
Commitment
- You and your teammates are responsible for covering the cost of materials required to build your femtosat.
Plagiarism
- Your femtosat must be your own work. You can use open source content designed for other projects, but using content from others designed for femtosats will result in disqualification.
Info
This guide is your go to place for information about participating in the Beginner Spacecraft Competition. You will find information about the different stages of the process and what you will need to do to move forward.
For details about designing your circuit board and programming your flight computer, you'll want to check out the Build Guide.
Summary - How to Build Your Spacecraft
Building your spacecraft involves 5 major steps. You’ll find guidance and tutorials for these steps below.
- Form your team
- Choose your payload
- Design and build your circuit board
- Program your flight computer
- Fly your femtosat and report your results
We recommend you do 3 and 4 concurrently if possible.
Form Your Team
You will have the chance to meet friends and form a team following the kickoff meeting. If you can't attend the kickoff meeting, go ahead and contact us. We might be able to add you to an existing team.
Choose Payload
The payload for your femtosat will consist of one or more sensors. We provide support for an atmospheric sensor and an inertial measurement sensor. Other sensors are welcome, but you will be on your own to figure out how to use them.
Design and Build Circuit Board
Once you have chosen a sensor, you will design a circuit board to connect it to a microprocessor, battery, and radio. More information about the circuit board design can be found in the Build Guide.
Program Flight Computer
The flight computer, implemented as a microprocessor, is the brains of the femtosat. You will program the processor to read sensor data, format it, and pass it on to the radio for transmission. More information can be found in the Build Guide.
Report Results
After your femtosat is launched on a rocket, you will create a short report to show what data was collected and how to interpret it.