Tag: CubeSat
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Gravimeter for ESA’s Hera mission is ready to launch to Dimorphos asteroid
A tiny instrument that can measure the gravity levels of an asteroid has completed its ground tests, pushing the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission closer to launch. Hera will complete the first post-impact survey of the asteroid that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) collided with in September 2022, and the gravimeter for small…
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LauncherOne reaches orbit on second attempt with NASA CubeSats
After an eight month stand down to resolve issues revealed during the first mission of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, the company made their second orbital launch attempt on Sunday, January 17. The air-launched rocket successfully carried ten CubeSats to their target orbit for NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program. The cosmic girl aircraft took…
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NASA picks Rocket Lab to launch lunar CubeSat mission
File photo of a Rocket Lab Electron booster lifting off from New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab / Sam Toms and Simon Moffatt NASA announced Friday that Rocket Lab will launch a 55-pound (25-kilogram) CubeSat from Wallops Island, Virginia, toward the moon in early 2021 on a demonstration mission to test lunar navigation techniques and scout…
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Privately-funded spacecraft now solar sailing in Earth orbit
This image was taken by a camera aboard the LightSail 2 satellite during the solar sail deployment sequence at 1848 GMT (2:48 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, July 23, over Baja California. Credit: The Planetary Society A nanosatellite launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last month has unfurled a solar sail membrane and is using light…
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NASA Lunar Imaging CubeSat – SkyFire – to ride with EM-1
NASA’s aim to provide a ride to numerous secondary payloads on the debut mission for the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion has resulted in Lockheed Martin signing a contract with NASA to deploy the SkyFire lunar flyby mission. The 6U CubeSat will join a team of 13 small spacecraft that will ride uphill on the…
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Door now open to launch educational hitchhikers on Atlas 5 rockets for free
CAPE CANAVERAL — United Launch Alliance has begun accepting applications from colleges and universities across the U.S. to compete for free cubesat launch slots aboard upcoming Atlas 5 rockets. The educational opportunity will use excess performance aboard rockets launching to space to carry the tiny student-made craft made of science and technology experiments. “Universities pioneered…
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Free CubeSat rideshares offered by ULA for Atlas V launches
United Launch Alliance (ULA) will begin adding a cubesat dispenser on to its Atlas V missions from 2017, allowing for the launch of up to 24 cubesats alongside its primary mission payload. In advertising the opportunities to cubesat companies, ULA has announced it will allow for several free rides for University payloads. ULA Rideshare: The cubesat market…
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Video released from Atlas 5 rocket launch of cubesat flock
Remarkable rocketcam video footage of the Oct. 8 flight a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from California has been released to show its hitchhiker cubesat payloads shooting into orbit. The mission blasted off before dawn from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the classified NROL-55 flight for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The video begins…