NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System Mission is on its way! The spacecraft has lifted off from the launch pad aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. The microwave oven-sized satellite is on its way to low Earth orbit to test its next-generation solar sail technology, using the power of sunlight as propulsion. Rocket Lab is providing …
Welcome to launch day for NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail Mission! This next-generation solar sail technology, which uses the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, waits for liftoff atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. This launch will send the solar sail satellite to low Earth orbit, where …
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative is sending a group of four small satellites, called CubeSats, to the International Space Station as ELaNa 51 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites). These small payloads have been developed by NASA and universities and will be deployed from low Earth orbit. Once circling Earth, the satellites will help demonstrate and mature technologies …
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative is sending a small satellite to orbit intended to demonstrate a multi-mode-capable thruster that can operate with both chemical and electrical modes potentially saving mass and reducing costs for larger missions. The Multi-Mode Mission, or M³, developed by Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Satellite research team, is a CubeSat intended …
NASA’s Starling mission accomplished a significant objective for the StarFOX (Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment) experiment, a test of autonomous navigation, co-location, and situational awareness in space. Using downlinked images from onboard “star tracker” sensors, the team used ground-based software to demonstrate StarFOX’s ability to autonomously differentiate the background field of stars and other orbiting spacecraft from fellow …
NASA’s four Starling spacecraft, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde, have successfully completed commissioning and are now in swarm experiment configuration. The spacecraft have successfully completed several mission activities working to advance satellite swarm technologies. Payload commissioning was delayed due to several anomalies the team needed to investigate, including a larger volume of GPS satellite data …
NASA’s Starling spacecraft are getting in formation: the mission team has spent the last two months troubleshooting issues and commissioning the four spacecraft, nicknamed Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Pinky, Inky, and Clyde have successfully completed their propulsion system commissioning and have executed maneuvers to get into their swarm operations configuration, maintaining a range between …
Mission managers have established command communications with all four of NASA’s Starling CubeSats! The spacecraft are progressing through payload and propulsion tests, the final stage of a pre-operations checklist called commissioning. The Starling spacecraft – which project team members nicknamed Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde – are part of an ambitious test to develop self-coordinating …
Each of NASA’s four Starling spacecraft stabilized themselves, deployed solar panels, and made initial contact shortly after their July 17 launch. Starling operators report nominal health for all the CubeSats. The spacecraft are undergoing a series of preparation and testing activities, called commissioning, ahead of their mission to demonstrate autonomous communications, positioning, maneuvering, and decision-making …
NASA’s four Starling CubeSats are confirmed to have deployed from the Rocket Lab’s Electron kick stage. The spacecraft, which are designed to work together as a “swarm,” have reached low Earth orbit to begin their mission to test technologies for autonomous positioning, networking, maneuvering, and decision-making. Now, the Starling swarm will power up and attempt …
