VAC02 ADCS
Serenum Space
Fully integrated ADCS for 1U-3U CubeSats with 3 reaction wheels, magnetorquers, sun sensors, magnetometers, and gyroscopes.
Technical specifications
- Form factor
- 1U to 3U CubeSats
- Actuators
- 3x reaction wheel, 3x magnetorquer
- Sensors
- Up to 6x fine sun sensors, 2x magnetometers, 3x gyroscopes
- Computer
- Cortex-M7
- Mass (RW25 variant)
- 424.3 g total (incl. sun sensors and typical harness)
- Mass (WITTENSTEIN variant)
- 394.3 g total (incl. sun sensors and typical harness)
- Dimensions (RW25 variant)
- 27 x 94 x 94 mm (0.27U)
- Dimensions (WITTENSTEIN variant)
- 25 x 94 x 94 mm (0.25U)
- Pointing precision (sunlight, RPE jitter)
- 0.0028° during 10 ms @ 1σ (both variants)
- Absolute pointing error (APE)
- 1.0° @ 1σ (both variants)
- Total momentum storage (RW25)
- 0.6 mN·m·s per axis
- Total momentum storage (WITTENSTEIN)
- 2.0 mN·m·s per axis
- Maximum torque (RW25)
- 0.2 mN·m per axis
- Maximum torque (WITTENSTEIN)
- 0.4 mN·m per axis
- Magnetic moment
- X,Y: 0.27 Am2, Z: 0.217 Am2
- Radiation tolerance (RW25)
- 36 krad
- Radiation tolerance (WITTENSTEIN)
- >20 krad
- Communication interfaces
- CAN, I2C, UART, CubeSat Space Protocol
- Supply voltage
- 5.0V or 8.0V (based on motor type)
- Power consumption (RW25)
- Idle 375 mW, Nominal 960 mW, Peak 1400 mW
- Power consumption (WITTENSTEIN)
- Idle 391 mW, Nominal 1550 mW, Peak 4900 mW
- Operational modes
- Standby, B-dot, inertial pointing, sun pointing, nadir pointing, LLA target tracking
- Expected lifetime
- 3 years
About
VAC02 is a fully integrated, versatile Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) designed for CubeSats with 1U to 3U form factor. It is equipped with three reaction wheels, three magnetorquers as actuators, and up to six fine sun sensors, two magnetometers, and three gyroscopes as sensors. This compact solution is built around a Cortex-M7 computer, providing exceptional pointing awareness and performance for smaller CubeSats. VAC02 is offered with a choice of reaction wheel: Serenum’s own RW25, or the WITTENSTEIN cyber reaction wheel 2, giving customers a trade-off between mass, torque, and momentum storage. Both configurations share the same sensor suite, communication interfaces, and operational modes, including standby, B-dot detumbling, inertial pointing, sun pointing, nadir pointing, and LLA target tracking. The system communicates over CAN, I2C, and UART, all supporting the CubeSat Space Protocol, and has been qualified through functional, vibration, mechanical shock, and thermal-vacuum-cycling test campaigns, with an expected on-orbit lifetime of 3 years.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.
