Mayflower-Caerus

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  37252 / 10066J Launch date  08 Dec 2010 - 15:43 UT Launch site  CC, SLC-40 Launch vehicle  Falcon-9 Mission  Technology Earth orbit on Dec 10.72: Perigee / Apogee  279 x 314 km Eccentricity  0.003 Inclination  34.54 deg Period  90.35 min

Caerus satellite

Mission details:

• SpaceX launched its second Falcon 9 rocket at 1543 UTC on Dec 8, successfully putting the first Dragon spacecraft into orbitfor a test flight.
• The Dragon C1's Trunk Module remained attached to the Falcon 9 second stage after orbit insertion; the capsule separated from the trunk module. About 45 min after launch six small satellites were also ejected from the trunk.
• The small satellites used the 1U (0.1 x 0.1m) and 3U (0.1 x 0.3m) cubesat buses, some with deployable solar panels.
• Caerus/Mayflower is an experiment for Northrop Grumman NovaWorks and the University of Southern California, a 3U cubesat made up of the 2U (double cube) Mayflower Next Generation Technology Nanosat from Northrop Grumman and a 1U (single cube) from USC's engineering schools in Los Angeles and Marina del Rey, with deployable solar panels.