CubeSTEM MissionLab Twin
Teacher delivery guide · M1
From Deployment to First Contact
This guide supports a 45–60 minute classroom session, a 90-minute laboratory or a multi-session project. The software provides the complete mission, telemetry, comparison and evidence workflow. Hardware is an optional extension only.
45–60 min
Core lesson
1 device/team
Minimum equipment
6
M1 experiments
No hardware
Required
What learners should demonstrate
Explain why a rotating spacecraft does not stop immediately.
Use attitude and rate telemetry to evaluate control performance.
Connect Sun pointing with solar input and battery state.
Connect Earth pointing with link quality and packet delivery.
Conduct a controlled experiment by changing one variable at a time.
Distinguish simulated, estimated, commanded, reference and derived data.
Write an evidence-based conclusion rather than reporting only a score.
55-minute classroom flow
0–5 min
Mission briefing
Introduce deployment, tumble, power and first-contact risks. Ask learners to predict which task is most urgent.
5–12 min
Guided baseline
Run Cadet or Explorer with the same class seed. Pause during overshoot and ask why the spacecraft crossed the target.
12–22 min
First learner run
Teams select a control style, power policy and retry strategy. They must record a prediction before running.
22–35 min
Controlled experiment
Keep the seed fixed and change one variable: control style, damping, power policy or retry limit.
35–45 min
Evidence review
Compare baseline and improved runs using overshoot, settling, battery, link and anomaly evidence.
45–55 min
Conclusion
Teams explain what changed, why it changed and what they would test next.
Software-only delivery
100-point evidence assessment
| Dimension | Evidence expected | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Prediction | States a testable expectation before the run | 10 |
| Controlled method | Changes one intended variable and keeps the seed fixed | 20 |
| Telemetry evidence | Uses at least three relevant metrics | 25 |
| Engineering reasoning | Connects behaviour to inertia, feedback, energy or link geometry | 25 |
| Conclusion | Answers the original question and identifies a next test | 15 |
| Provenance | Correctly identifies simulated/estimated/reference/derived channels | 5 |
Discussion prompts
Internal momentum and body motion continue; braking requires an opposing control response.
Higher response speed can create overshoot, oscillation, saturation and energy cost.
Retries cannot rescue a link when pointing quality is physically inadequate.
Power state depends on Sun geometry, control effort, payload and communications loads.
M1 is software-only. Channels are labelled by provenance and no simulated channel is presented as measured.
What to say honestly
• F1 hardware-informed one-axis attitude-control model
• Simulated power, contact, payload, thermal and anomaly channels
• Deterministic scenarios and evidence
• No physical hardware required
• Not a full three-axis or flight-qualified mission simulator
• Use the supervised one-axis rig only after operator approval
• Identify each channel as measured, estimated or simulated
• Compare model and hardware without claiming exact equivalence
• Never permit learner browser access to unrestricted serial or ESTOP reset
• Complete the lesson even when hardware is unavailable