{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132560"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132560","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Conceptual design of HADES a CubeSat conducting radio astronomy in lunar orbit","abstract":"The “HI Absorption in the Dark agES” (HADES) mission proposes a novel CubeSat architecture to address one of the most significant challenges in modern cosmology: the detection of the redshifted 21 cm neutral hydrogen signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. Observations in the 1 to 100 MHz frequency regime are effectively impossible from Earth due to ionospheric cutoff and intense anthropogenic radio frequency interference. This thesis evaluates the feasibility of a lunar-orbiting 12U CubeSat designed to leverage the Moon’s far side as a natural shield against terrestrial and solar noise, targeting the detection of the global spectral distortion in the cosmic microwave background. A comprehensive high-fidelity mission simulation framework was developed using the FreeFlyer software suite to assess orbital stability, science access, and subsystem performance. By incorporating the high-resolution GRAIL GL0660B lunar gravity model and third-body perturbations from the Earth and Sun, the study performed an extensive parameter sweep of the lunar orbital phase space. This analysis identified a narrow corridor of “quasi-frozen” near-equatorial orbits (a ≈ 1833 km, e ≈ 0.01, i ≈ 0.30◦, ω ≈ 160◦) capable of maintaining stability for over one year without the need for station-keeping maneuvers. The selected design reference orbit yields 741 h of dual-shielded Prime Science integration time, providing a robust 32% margin over the 560 h scientific requirement necessary to achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio. Integrated subsystem analyses confirmed that the proposed platform can support this demanding mission profile. The electrical power system, utilizing 82.75 W beginning-of-life solar arrays and a 93 Wh battery, maintains a positive energy balance with a worst-case eclipse depth of discharge of 25%, well within operational safety limits. The communications analysis demonstrates that a standard X-band link to the Deep Space Network, allocated just 20 min of contact time per day, provides sufficient capacity (3.50 GB/yr) to downlink the estimated 2.70 GB annual science data volume. These results validate the HADES mission concept, demonstrating that a low-cost CubeSat platform can effectively access the radio-quiet lunar far side to probe the early universe.","abstract_html":"The “HI Absorption in the Dark agES” (HADES) mission proposes a novel CubeSat architecture to address one of the most significant challenges in modern cosmology: the detection of the redshifted 21 cm neutral hydrogen signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. Observations in the 1 to 100 MHz frequency regime are effectively impossible from Earth due to ionospheric cutoff and intense anthropogenic radio frequency interference. This thesis evaluates the feasibility of a lunar-orbiting 12U CubeSat designed to leverage the Moon’s far side as a natural shield against terrestrial and solar noise, targeting the detection of the global spectral distortion in the cosmic microwave background. A comprehensive high-fidelity mission simulation framework was developed using the FreeFlyer software suite to assess orbital stability, science access, and subsystem performance. By incorporating the high-resolution GRAIL GL0660B lunar gravity model and third-body perturbations from the Earth and Sun, the study performed an extensive parameter sweep of the lunar orbital phase space. This analysis identified a narrow corridor of “quasi-frozen” near-equatorial orbits (a ≈ 1833 km, e ≈ 0.01, i ≈ 0.30◦, ω ≈ 160◦) capable of maintaining stability for over one year without the need for station-keeping maneuvers. The selected design reference orbit yields 741 h of dual-shielded Prime Science integration time, providing a robust 32% margin over the 560 h scientific requirement necessary to achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio. Integrated subsystem analyses confirmed that the proposed platform can support this demanding mission profile. The electrical power system, utilizing 82.75 W beginning-of-life solar arrays and a 93 Wh battery, maintains a positive energy balance with a worst-case eclipse depth of discharge of 25%, well within operational safety limits. The communications analysis demonstrates that a standard X-band link to the Deep Space Network, allocated just 20 min of contact time per day, provides sufficient capacity (3.50 GB/yr) to downlink the estimated 2.70 GB annual science data volume. These results validate the HADES mission concept, demonstrating that a low-cost CubeSat platform can effectively access the radio-quiet lunar far side to probe the early universe.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Young, Christopher C"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lembeck, Michael F"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["HADES","CubeSat","frozen orbit","FreeFlyer","radio astronomy","quasi-frozen orbit","systems engineering","orbital mechanics"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["© 2025 Christopher C. Young"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132560","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lembeck, Michael F"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Young, Christopher C"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-12-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["HADES","CubeSat","frozen orbit","FreeFlyer","radio astronomy","quasi-frozen orbit","systems engineering","orbital mechanics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© 2025 Christopher C. Young"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132560"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The “HI Absorption in the Dark agES” (HADES) mission proposes a novel CubeSat architecture to address one of the most significant challenges in modern cosmology: the detection of the redshifted 21 cm neutral hydrogen signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. Observations in the 1 to 100 MHz frequency regime are effectively impossible from Earth due to ionospheric cutoff and intense anthropogenic radio frequency interference. This thesis evaluates the feasibility of a lunar-orbiting 12U CubeSat designed to leverage the Moon’s far side as a natural shield against terrestrial and solar noise, targeting the detection of the global spectral distortion in the cosmic microwave background. A comprehensive high-fidelity mission simulation framework was developed using the FreeFlyer software suite to assess orbital stability, science access, and subsystem performance. By incorporating the high-resolution GRAIL GL0660B lunar gravity model and third-body perturbations from the Earth and Sun, the study performed an extensive parameter sweep of the lunar orbital phase space. This analysis identified a narrow corridor of “quasi-frozen” near-equatorial orbits (a ≈ 1833 km, e ≈ 0.01, i ≈ 0.30◦, ω ≈ 160◦) capable of maintaining stability for over one year without the need for station-keeping maneuvers. The selected design reference orbit yields 741 h of dual-shielded Prime Science integration time, providing a robust 32% margin over the 560 h scientific requirement necessary to achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio. Integrated subsystem analyses confirmed that the proposed platform can support this demanding mission profile. The electrical power system, utilizing 82.75 W beginning-of-life solar arrays and a 93 Wh battery, maintains a positive energy balance with a worst-case eclipse depth of discharge of 25%, well within operational safety limits. The communications analysis demonstrates that a standard X-band link to the Deep Space Network, allocated just 20 min of contact time per day, provides sufficient capacity (3.50 GB/yr) to downlink the estimated 2.70 GB annual science data volume. These results validate the HADES mission concept, demonstrating that a low-cost CubeSat platform can effectively access the radio-quiet lunar far side to probe the early universe.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Christopher Young, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-02 at 23:49.","The student, Christopher Young, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-12-03 at 00:04.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-12-08 at 11:34.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23033 on 2026-02-19 at 18:26:20"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Conceptual design of HADES a CubeSat conducting radio astronomy in lunar orbit"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lembeck, Michael F"],"dc:creator":["Young, Christopher C"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-12-08"],"dc:description":["The “HI Absorption in the Dark agES” (HADES) mission proposes a novel CubeSat architecture to address one of the most significant challenges in modern cosmology: the detection of the redshifted 21 cm neutral hydrogen signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. Observations in the 1 to 100 MHz frequency regime are effectively impossible from Earth due to ionospheric cutoff and intense anthropogenic radio frequency interference. This thesis evaluates the feasibility of a lunar-orbiting 12U CubeSat designed to leverage the Moon’s far side as a natural shield against terrestrial and solar noise, targeting the detection of the global spectral distortion in the cosmic microwave background. A comprehensive high-fidelity mission simulation framework was developed using the FreeFlyer software suite to assess orbital stability, science access, and subsystem performance. By incorporating the high-resolution GRAIL GL0660B lunar gravity model and third-body perturbations from the Earth and Sun, the study performed an extensive parameter sweep of the lunar orbital phase space. This analysis identified a narrow corridor of “quasi-frozen” near-equatorial orbits (a ≈ 1833 km, e ≈ 0.01, i ≈ 0.30◦, ω ≈ 160◦) capable of maintaining stability for over one year without the need for station-keeping maneuvers. The selected design reference orbit yields 741 h of dual-shielded Prime Science integration time, providing a robust 32% margin over the 560 h scientific requirement necessary to achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio. Integrated subsystem analyses confirmed that the proposed platform can support this demanding mission profile. The electrical power system, utilizing 82.75 W beginning-of-life solar arrays and a 93 Wh battery, maintains a positive energy balance with a worst-case eclipse depth of discharge of 25%, well within operational safety limits. The communications analysis demonstrates that a standard X-band link to the Deep Space Network, allocated just 20 min of contact time per day, provides sufficient capacity (3.50 GB/yr) to downlink the estimated 2.70 GB annual science data volume. These results validate the HADES mission concept, demonstrating that a low-cost CubeSat platform can effectively access the radio-quiet lunar far side to probe the early universe.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Christopher Young, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-02 at 23:49.","The student, Christopher Young, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-12-03 at 00:04.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-12-08 at 11:34.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23033 on 2026-02-19 at 18:26:20"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132560"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["© 2025 Christopher C. Young"],"dc:subject":["HADES","CubeSat","frozen orbit","FreeFlyer","radio astronomy","quasi-frozen orbit","systems engineering","orbital mechanics"],"dc:title":["Conceptual design of HADES a CubeSat conducting radio astronomy in lunar orbit"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}