Design of flight software for the KySat CubeSat bus

Abstract

This paper1 2 describes the design, implementation and testing of flight software for KySat-1 a picosatellite scheduled to launch in 2009. The paper also discusses the challenges of developing dependable software in an academic environment and the development of dependable software for commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware in space applications. Techniques employed to design for reuse and examples of software reuse in recent sub-orbital and near-space missions are also described. The software architecture, software engineering practices, and testing techniques developed for KySat-1 will serve as the basis for a series of future Kentucky Space Consortium missions.