CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission update

The CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission led by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking of two 3U CubeSats. The CPOD program passed CDR in March 2014 and has since progressed to flight vehicle production and test. Tyvak developed a unique relative navigation payload that includes delta GPS, inter-satellite link with radio ranging, two infrared imagers, and two visible imagers. A cold gas propulsion system is integrated into the vehicle for translational maneuvers. A high performance attitude determination and control system was developed to enable maneuvering and relative pointing. While cost was kept low with the use of commercial off the shelf components and selective redundancy, the integration of new rendezvous and docking components necessitated a significant investment in testing and integrated performance verification. Testing included real time hardware in the loop testing of the control, maneuver planning, and image processing systems, as well as air table testing of the docking mechanism. The CPOD mission is now in the final integration and testing phase and slated for launch in 2015. This paper presents an update on the CPOD mission including the flight vehicle configuration, concept of operations, and test data.