Realisation of a Sun Sensor for IGOSat

IGOSat is a CubeSat project from the LabEx UnivEarthS (laboratories AIM, APC and IPGP) from Paris Diderot University in France, that begun in 2013. The project is part of the JANUS program (educative CubeSats) from the French Space Agency (CNES).

The project purpose is to develop a 3 units CubeSats with 2 payloads : a GPS receiver to study the Total Electronic Content (TEC) of the Ionosphere and a Scintillator to study the high energetic particles in the Van Hallen belts. Currently in phase B, IGOSat will be launched in 2018.

Internship Description :

This internship aims at design, realise and test a sensor to detect the angular position of the Sun in space. A first try has been done during 2015 but the tests were not successful.

In order to determinate the attitude of the satellite, the sun is used as a lighthouse in space. Off-the-shelf components (not made, but bought) can be found but appear to be expensive and over-accurate compared to our needs with the IGOSat mission.

The intern will have to define the electronics, code, mechanical design and tests of the component. As it is a multi-disciplinary task, the intern need knowledges and experience in all those fields.

Interacting with a team of several students, engineers and scientists, the student needs precision and global vision. Most of the team is french, so english and/or french fluency is mandatory. This internship, mainly focused on mechanics, will also allow the student to approach numerous sides of space engineering.

Website : http://www.igosat.fr

Level Required : L3, M1 Desired Period : 3 or 4 months

Contact : agnanapc.in2p3.fr, halloinapc.in2p3.fr