Conceptual design of HADES a CubeSat conducting radio astronomy in lunar orbit

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Young, Christopher C

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lembeck, Michael F

• HADES
• CubeSat
• frozen orbit
• FreeFlyer
• radio astronomy
• quasi-frozen orbit
• systems engineering
• orbital mechanics

Statement dc:rights

• © 2025 Christopher C. Young

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132560

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132560