EPSILON: an innovative, fast development satellite

EPSILON (Experimental Plastic Satellite: Innovative, Light, Off-the-shelf, Nano), is a small nanosatellite (ten centimetre side) completely manufactured using rapid prototyping technique, which ffers the possibility to manufacture the nanosatellite structure in a very short time. This technique allows one to easily implement changes in design and potentially useful to replicate the structure inexpensively for building nanosatellite fleets. The paper deals with the design of one plastic nanosatellite which will be boarded, as experimental payload, on next UNISAT-5 satellite. UNISAT program was established the at School of Aerospace Engineering of Roma, in early nineties, with the aim to design, manufacture and launch small educational satellites involving students, researchers and professors in a space project. In the framework of this program four satellites have already been launched (respectively in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006) from Baykonour Cosmodrome using DNEPR launch vehicle. An EPSILON based bus will be connected to UNISAT-5 mother satellite by a tether or a boom as a technological experiment. It will host a camera to take pictures of the UNISAT-5 satellite. At the same time UNISAT-5 will take picture of EPSILON to evaluate plastic aging in space.