Stecco, a laser ranged nanosatellite

The Space Traveling Egg-Controlled Catadioptric Object (STECCO) is a 30 cm x 5 cm x 5 cm PocketQube nanosatellite to be launched in 2020. Its shape and the presence of a passive viscous damper shall allow gravity gradient stabilization of the satellite, with one of the two smaller faces pointing toward nadir. Each one of the two smaller faces will be equipped with one Corner Cube Reflector (CCRs), so that it will be possible to track the satellite and reconstruct its orbit by means of laser ranging. One of the two CCRs will have the back faces coated while the other one will be uncoated: this will allow distinguishing which face is pointing toward the ground, because of the different sensitivity to the polarization of the laser impulses used for ranging. CCRs for STECCO will not be custom built units but will be Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) ones. Optical tests on the reflectors and on the mounting system will be performed in the thermovacuum and optical test lab of the School of Aerospace Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome. © 2020, Univelt Inc., All rights reserved.