Concept and feasibility analysis of the Alba CubeSat mission

Alba CubeSat is a 2U CubeSat which is being developed by a student team at the University of Padova. The Alba project aims to design, build, test, launch, and operate University of Padova’s first student CubeSat, featuring four different payloads that aim to satisfy four independent objectives. The first goal is to collect data regarding the debris environment in LEO, the second goal is the study of the satellite vibrations, the third one is about CubeSat attitude determination through laser ranging technology and the fourth goal concerns satellite laser and quantum communication. The Alba CubeSat mission has been selected by ESA to join the Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster programme in December 2022. This paper presents the feasibility study of the Alba CubeSat mission reproduced in the framework of the “Space Systems Laboratory” class of M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Padova. In the beginning, a mission requirements definition was conducted. After that, the mis...