Team Members
Justin Olivas, Neil Adake, Portland Janus, Andres Deleao, Michael Macri, Mitchell Thoeni, Abigail Franck, Aiden McGahey, Santiago Vanegas
Abstract
KOIOS is a CubeSat launching onboard NASA’s Artemis 3mission for lunar reconnaissance. KOIOS will aid the Orion crew onboard Artemis 3,by capturing and relaying high-resolution images of candidate landing sites near the Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole, in order to determine a safe landing zone for the citizens aboard Orion. KOIOS is a 12U CubeSat weighing in at 20.38 kilograms, designed to carry a Hyperscape 100 imaging payload. Utilizing an Aerojet Rocketdyne MPS-135-6U propulsion system, KOIOS will make its way to lunar orbit with 9 scheduled burns, bringing it to an average altitude of 50 km at perilune. Here, it will capture images at a 0.5 meter resolution, and transmit them to the Deep Space Network using an Endurosat X-band transmitter. After providing the images necessary for landing site determination, KOIOS will continue to orbit for an additional 10 days, capturing high-resolution images throughout different parts of the lunar southern hemisphere for future mission planning and scientific analysis. At the end of its life, KOIOS will deorbit to the designated crash site with a single controlled burn at apolune. KOIOS features an optimized structure, with thermal and vibro-acoustic mitigation systems onboard, among other critical subsystems to ensure mission success. KOIOS, named after the Greek god of the inquisitive mind, will identify the optimal landing site to facilitate the return of human life to the lunar surface. Ad astra !