Small Spacecraft Activities Around the Agency
Highlights for August 2022
NASA’s Ames Research Center
Small Spacecraft Technology Program
Four technology demonstration missions funded and managed by the Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program launched between May and July. The CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) and Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3 (PTD-3) launched into low-Earth orbit on May 25 as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-5 rideshare launch. The CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK-A (CLICK) technology demonstration launched on July 14, 2022, aboard SpaceX’s 25th Commercial Resupply Service (CRS-25) mission to the International Space Station as part of the next ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) mission.
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) launched on June 28 aboard a Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. CAPSTONE is currently on its way to the Moon destined for eventual insertion into a near rectilinear halo orbit. CASPTONE must perform several trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM) before it can enter its final orbit. The second TCM was recently performed in mid-July, with the next maneuver planned in late-July. When CAPSTONE catches up to the Moon on November 13, its approach will be perfectly aligned for lunar orbit insertion.
For more information on these technology demonstrations, please visit the following:
- CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration
- Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator – 3
- CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK-A
- Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment
NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program and the NASA Ames Research Center’s Engineering Directorate will be exhibiting at the Small Satellite Conference in booths 77 and 74 respectively.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Wallops Flight Facility
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is celebrating the July delivery of the petitSat mission. The spaceraft is now awaiting an October launch on SpaceX-26. Be sure to stop by the GSFC booth (J75) at the 2022 SmallSat Conference to learn about all our exciting SmallSat missions, innovative technologies, and advanced architectures. You will hear about the SigNals of Opportunity: P-band Investigation
(SNOOPI) and GTOSat on the presentation stage and see a poster session on the Pandora mission, our first NASA Pioneers Program SmallSat.
Please visit GSFC’s Mission Portfolio for more information on these missions.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Several NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory small spacecraft projects recently completed milestones.
The Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) project started Phase A in May 2022. The deployable reflector design has started at Tendeg, LLC in Colorado. Please visit INCUS for more information.
The Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) is finishing assembly and test of six DH-GNSS receiver payloads in anticipation of integration with the six spacecraft at the Space Dynamics Lab in Logan, Utah in September. All six space vehicles will be rebuilt with a flight payload and will go through an environmental test campaign in the early part of 2023. The ground data systems team completed a series of tests using a software simulation of the spacecraft demonstrating that the ground systems are ready to operate. SunRISE has a series of Operational Readiness Tests planned. Launch is planned for no earlier than January 2024.
Please visit SunRISE for more information.
Organizations from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be exhibiting at the Small Satellite Conference in booths 76 and 79.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center
NASA’s Johnson Space Center recently completed assembly and vibration testing for the next two spacecraft of its R5 series, R5-S2 and R5-S3. These spacecraft are intended to assess potential process improvements and carefully selected commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware that may significantly reduce spacecraft cost and schedule while maintaining or increasing spacecraft capability. These spacecraft will launch onboard a Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS-2) contract launch in the near future.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center / CubeSat Launch Initiative
Since the last quaterly update, NASA’s Launch Services Program has facilitated the launch of seven additional CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected CubeSats on two different missions (ELaNa 39/STP 28A on a Virgin Orbit Launcher One and ELaNa 38 / CRS SpX-25). To date, 148 CSLI CubeSats have been launched and another 20 are slated to fly within the next 12 months. Three additional CubeSats (MARIO, TJREVERB and PetitSat) were completed and turned over for launch on the upcoming ELaNa 49/ CRS SpX-26 mission to the International Space Station in mid-October of this year. Measurement of Actuator Response and Impedance on Orbit, or MARIO, is a 3U CubeSat developed by the University of Michigan, TJReverb is a 1U CubeSat developed by Thomas Jefferson High School, located in Northern Virginia, and petitsat is a 6U CubeSat developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative will be exhibiting at the Small Satellite Conference in booth 80.
NASA’s Langley Research Center
The NASA Langley Research Center-developed GPX2 3U CubeSat was successfully launched and deployed on Saturday, July 2, to a 500km, 45-degree orbit from the Virgin Orbit National Systems (VONS) Launcher on the “Straight Up” mission. The GPX2 team is receiving telemetry from the onboard Iridium modem indicating that power, heaters, and communication systems are fully functional. The project team is working to pull down detailed stored telemetry data, verify operations of the two onboard Global Positioning System (GPS) systems, and monitor progress towards a passive gravity-gradient stabilized attitude. After checkout, the team will conduct Langley GPS experiments and GPS data collection supporting atmospheric studies. GPX2 is a technology demonstration mission evaluating the performance of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) GPS receivers, IRIDIUM Short-Burst Data command/telemetry communication architecture, and the pioneering use of a composite additive-manufactured Windform XT 2.0 chassis for the 3U form factor CubeSat.
