| Commercial off-the-shelf camera technology is frequently adapted for use onboard small satellites to aid in the validation of deployment mechanisms. Commercial off-the-shelf cameras are not designed with this application nor the constraints of a small satellite in mind, however, and as a result often perform poorly on-orbit. To address this problem on the Miniature Visual Inspection Camera - a commercial off-the-shelf derived deployment imaging and inspection camera under development at the Space Flight Laboratory - a set of requirements were derived. Their verification revealed that this camera was initially incapable of producing neither video nor properly exposed images at the start of this research project. This thesis develops and discusses the measures undertaken to correct these problems in the context of the CanX-7 and NORSAT-2 small satellite missions, on which the Miniature Visual Inspection Camera will fly. |
