{"id":13687,"date":"2018-07-21T20:18:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T12:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/weather-monitoring-and-tech-demo-cubesats-deployed-in-orbit\/"},"modified":"2018-07-21T20:18:15","modified_gmt":"2018-07-21T12:18:15","slug":"weather-monitoring-and-tech-demo-cubesats-deployed-in-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/weather-monitoring-and-tech-demo-cubesats-deployed-in-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather-monitoring and tech demo CubeSats deployed in orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artist\u2019s illustration of the RainCube spacecraft released from the International Space Station on July 13. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fifteen CubeSats owned by NASA, Spire Global, and U.S. research institutions launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship in May have been released into orbit, beginning missions to demonstrate miniaturized, low-cost Earth science instruments and join a commercial network of weather-monitoring nanosatellites.<\/p>\n

Nine of the satellites were released July 13 from a NanoRacks deployer outside the International Space Station, and six more sprung out of a NanoRacks carrier module mounted to the exterior of the Cygnus supply ship July 15, hours after the automated freighter departed the station.<\/p>\n

The nine CubeSats released from the space station were delivered inside the Cygnus spacecraft\u2019s pressurized cargo module May 24, three days after launching from Wallops Island, Virginia. Astronauts transferred the nanosatellites, which ranged in size from a Rubik\u2019s Cube to a briefcase, inside a separation mechanism through an airlock in the station\u2019s Kibo lab module, where a robotic arm picked up the deployer to release the CubeSats.<\/p>\n

Seven of the CubeSats came from NASA and other U.S. universities, and two were developed by start-up companies.<\/p>\n

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File photo of a CubeSat being released from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the CubeSats, named RainCube, carries a miniaturized radar developed by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Ka-band radar, designed to measure rainfall and other precipitation on Earth, is the first such instrument to fit inside a CubeSat, according to Eva Peral, RainCube\u2019s principal investigator at JPL.<\/p>\n

\u201cCubeSats have been around for a long time, so what is the challenge about putting a radar in a CubeSat? Radars are notorious for being very large, very power-hungry instruments,\u201d Peral said before RainCube\u2019s launch May 21. \u201cA group of JPL engineers developed a new architecture for radars, and we were able to reduce the size, mass and power consumption of the radar by about an order of magnitude, about a factor of 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

RainCube was programmed to deploy a dish-shaped 1.6-foot (50-centimeter) radar antenna after its release from the space station. The roughly 26-pound (12-kilogram) spacecraft is designed for a two-month primary mission to test out the radar.<\/p>\n

Peral said NASA\u2019s CloudSat satellite, which launched in 2006, carries a similar radar to RainCube. But the instrument aboard CloudSat is around 80 times the volume of the radar on RainCube.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a significant advancement in technology,\u201d Peral said.<\/p>\n

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The RainCube spacecraft during launch preparations. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the radar and antenna function as intended, RainCube could pave the way for future CubeSats to collect global precipitation data with greater frequency and at lower cost than existing satellite missions. The antenna technology also has applications in commercial communications networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith RainCube, we expect that we could send a constellation of these little CubeSats (into orbit), and then we could measure very frequent observations of precipitation,\u201d Peral said.<\/p>\n

Another CubeSat, named TEMPEST-D, deployed from the space station July 13 to begin its own technology demonstration mission.<\/p>\n

Developed in partnership between JPL, Colorado State University and Blue Canyon Technologies, TEMPEST-D stands for the Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems \u2013 Demonstration. The briefcase-sized CubeSat hosts a five-channel millimeter-wave radiometer that could be used by a fleet of future nanosatellites to scan developing tropical cyclones help scientists learn how they intensify and change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a train-like constellation of TEMPEST-like CubeSats, we\u2019d be able to take time samples every five to 10 minutes to see how a storm develops,\u201d said Steven Reising, TEMPEST-D\u2019s principal investigator at Colorado State University.<\/p>\n

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The TEMPEST-D spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/Blue Canyon Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CubeRRT nanosatellite was also released into orbit July 13 to begin a year-long mission testing a new processor that could help future Earth observation and climate research spacecraft obtain better data.<\/p>\n

The processor on the CubeRRT tech demo CubeSat is designed to eliminate the effects of man-made radio emissions that reduce the precision of microwave radiometers on-board larger Earth science satellites.<\/p>\n

Radio signals from wireless communications and radar operations on Earth can reach receivers on satellites, masking the planet\u2019s natural microwave emissions in the same frequency bands, which are useful for sensors looking at water vapor in the atmosphere, precipitation, sea surface temperatures and ice coverage, according to Joel Johnson, CubeRRT\u2019s principal investigator at Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a problem for microwave radiometers trying to observe Earth, and as demand for the spectrum keeps getting higher and higher, it\u2019s harder and harder to keep doing these important scientific measurements,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCubeRRT is all about a new kind of processor to attach to a microwave radiometer so that it can still continue to measure the natural thermal emissions, even in the presence of other signals that are coming from Earth that are man-made,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

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CubeRRT team members pose with the spacecraft with its solar panels unfurled. Credit: Ohio State University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HaloSat was another CubeSat deployed from the space station July 13.<\/p>\n

Developed at the University of Iowa in partnership with NASA, HaloSat is designed to detect X-ray gas emissions around the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists hope HaloSat\u2019s measurements will help determine the shape and mass of a halo of hot gas surrounding the galaxy.<\/p>\n

The results could help astrophysicists in their search for \u201cmissing\u201d matter \u2014 material that has escaped detection since the aftermath of the Big Bang produced relic light known as the cosmic microwave background. Since the birth of the universe 13.8 billion years ago, matter has coalesced to form structures such as gas and dust clouds, galaxies, stars and planets.<\/p>\n

Cosmologists say the universe contains just 5 percent normal matter \u2014 the stuff you can see and touch \u2014 while 25 percent of the universe is made up of dark matter, and 70 percent is dark energy, a mysterious force accelerating the universe\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n

But scientists have accounted for only about half of the normal matter that should be in the universe. Researchers believe the undetected matter could be contained in hot gas clouds between galaxies, or in halos surrounding galaxies like our own Milky Way.<\/p>\n

HaloSat\u2019s measurements could help scientists determine whether galactic halos of hot gas could harbor the missing matter.<\/p>\n

The first privately-developed nanosatellite for Analytical Space, a startup based in Massachusetts, was also deployed from the space station July 13.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s illustration of the Radix spacecraft. Credit: Analytical Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Named Radix, the CubeSat is a proof-of-concept tech demo mission for Analytical Space, which is developing a constellation of nanosatellites that could create a commercial data relay network. The CubeSats proposed by Analytical Space would receive data from other satellites via radio signals, then process the data and transmit it to Earth with a laser transmitter, which can beam information at higher data rates than feasible with conventional radios.<\/p>\n

The approach would allow remote sensing craft, orbiting surveillance platforms, and other satellites using existing technology to take advantage of higher-speed laser communications, according to Analytical Space, which is backed by The Engine, a venture capital fund founded by MIT and other private investment firms.<\/p>\n

Engineers will use Radix for beta-testing of the data relay concept. Analytical Space says it has lined up partners to use their satellites to communicate in orbit with Radix, which will then downlink the data to Earth through high-speed radio and laser terminals.<\/p>\n

Four other CubeSats were released from the space station July 13:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • EQUiSat, a 1U CubeSat developed by Brown University with NASA support as an educational outreach mission, with a secondary objective of demonstrating a new type of battery in space.<\/li>\n
  • MemSat, a 1U CubeSat developed at Rowan University in partnership with NASA, will test a memristor device that could be flown on future satellites to make them more energy efficient and more resilient to power failures.<\/li>\n
  • RadSat-g, a 3U CubeSat developed at Montana State University in partnership with NASA, will test a new radiation tolerant computer system.<\/li>\n
  • EnduroSat One, a 1U CubeSat developed in Bulgaria, carries an amateur radio payload.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Another six nanosats were stowed aboard a deployer outside the Cygnus spacecraft itself, awaiting separation after the supply ship\u2019s departure from the space station July 15.<\/p>\n

    After the Northrop Grumman cargo ship left the station, it raised its orbit to an altitude of more than 300 miles (480 kilometers), setting the stage for the release of six CubeSats for Spire Global and Aerospace Corp. The six CubeSats, each around the size of a shoebox, deployed in pairs from a NanoRacks carrier module mounted on the Cygnus spacecraft over the course of several hours.<\/p>\n