CubeSat Filter Changer

Commissioned by RIT’s Center for Detectors, the CubeSat Filter Changer is a senior design project in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. A CubeSat is a miniature satellite built for collecting research data in Earth’s orbit. The CubeSat for this project is 6U (12 x 24 x 36 cm) and requires multiple light filters to be placed in front of a telescope for data collection. With limited space on the CubeSat, the CubeSat Filter Changer was designed to be a compact mechanical device that raises and lowers light filters in and out of the optical path of the CubeSat’s telescope. The Filter Changer does this by lowering and raising four cartridges; one of the cartridges acts as a light shield and the other three hold the light filters. Each cartridge can be raised by the Filter Changer into the optical path by rotating an arm 90 degrees with a stepper motor. This arm is attached to the bottom of the cartridge with a pin slot, allowing it to slide along the bottom edge when the arm is rotated. This mechanism allows the cartridges to be both pushed and pulled without the assistance of gravity, while minimizing its overall volume.