Mission SeaLion’s Payload-Centric Design of a 3U CubeSat

With the rising accessibility of low Earth orbit, CubeSats have emerged as pivotal testbeds for scientific research and technological innovation. Mission SeaLion, a 3U CubeSat developed in partnership with Old Dominion University, the United States Coast Guard Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology, aims to capitalize on these capabilities to validate on-orbit – (i) an impedance probe, (ii) a commercial-off-the-shelf UHF doppler payload, and (iii) a deployable composite structure experiment. This paper will focus on Old Dominion University’s payload-centric design of the SeaLion CubeSat bus to maximize its research capabilities. The design philosophy will be discussed, beginning with a tab-based 3U design and its transformation into a ~3.5U rail-based CubeSat. Topics such as value engineering, finite element analysis of subsystems, and payload placement will be analyzed.