Project Sponsor : AFRL
Start Date : 08/01/2022
Faculty Investigator : Professor Brian Gunter
Project Status : To be delivered Summer 2024
OrCa-2 is a continued effort to improve Space Domain Awareness (SDA) in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory. By fully characterizing the reflectance properties on Earth, OrCa-2 can aid the calibration of optical systems and quantify the effect of space weather on various materials. OrCa-2 will be the platform for a number of other Georgia Tech experiments, student-designed sensors, and custom electronics. Complementing the suite of attitude determination sensors, a custom horizon sensor and star camera will be flown to as low-cost alternatives to traditional space-rated hardware. The star camera doubles space object detector to support SDA from orbit. The custom motherboard will continue to gain flight heritage as it is prepared for the second launch. A hosted payload from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering will perform radiation-based experiments to improve the resiliency of future satellite design.