Attitude Control Development of the AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert System -2

AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system -2 (ARICA-2) is the 2U CubeSat for demonstrating the real-time alert system of transient astronomical sources using commercial satellite network services. 1U CubeSat ARICA, which has same mission goals as ARICA-2, was launched in 2021. However, it has never successfully transmitted or received data to date. The lack of attitude control, power balance issues and short communication time with commercial satellites are considered as the causes of the defects. With these considerations, we started to develop ARICA-2 as a re-challenging mission of ARICA. Since attitude control is essential for satellite operation and mission accomplishment, ARICA-2 uses magnetic torquers for attitude control. We are currently building a system that will be able to determine the position of the satellite using 9-axis sensors, sun sensors, infrared sensors, and GPS, and to control the attitude using 3-axis magnetic torquers. Our satellite uses magnetic torquer for passive magnetic attitude control. We will present an overview of ARICA-2 and its attitude control system, as well as the components used and the operational modes being considered.