Aeneas

Spacecraft nº:

US spacecraft nº:

Launch data: Designation  38760 / 12048C Launch date  13 Sept 2012 - 21:39 UT Launch site  Vandenberg, SLC-3E Launch vehicle  Atlas-5/401 (AV-033) Mission  Govern: Technology LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  480 x 790 km Eccentricity  2,21E-02 Inclination  0.02 deg Period  97.4 min

Artist's view of the deployed Aeneas nanosatellite in orbit (image credit: USC)

Spacecraft data: Prime manufacturer  University of Southern California/Space Engineering Research Center (USC/SERC); Pumpkin Inc. (bus) Platform  CubeSat (3U) Operator  Department of Homeland Security Mass at launch  4 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Equipment   Solar array  4 deployable solar arrays Stabilization   Propulsion  none DC power   Design lifetime  Still active

Configuration of the Aeneas nanosatellite (image credit: USC)

Description:

• Aeneas is a 3U CubeSat (i.e., a nanosatellite by definition) development of student teams at USC/SERC (University of Southern California/Space Engineering Research Center), Marina Del Ray, CA, USA. SERC is a facility of the Astronautics Department and ISI (Information Sciences Institute) at USC. The goal of the mission is to track the location cargo containers on a global scale. To accomplish this feat, the satellite must maintain a 2º accuracy surface track – the first of its kind in CubeSat technology.
• Aeneas contains two payloads:
  • The primary payload is tracking cargo containers over the open ocean with a 1-watt WiFi-like transceiver. A current tracking system for cargo containers, designed by the primary payload provider iControl Inc., is capable of identifying the container within a mile from shore, but loses all contact for the majority of the open-water journey. For both government and non-government entities, the ability to track containers in transit is highly valued. This mission uses a custom-built deployable mesh antenna, and stretches the attitude control and power generation capabilities of the Colony I bus to its limits.
  • The secondary payload is an experimental, next-generation, radiation-hardened flight processor. On Aeneas, the processor will be space-qualified by performing self-diagnostic checks and reporting the results back to the ground

Mission details:

• On Sep 13, 2012 United Launch Alliance flew a Lockheed Martin Atlas V 401, serial AV-033, from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The main payload is thought to be a pair of Navy signals intelligence satellites deployed in a 1010 x 1200 km x 63.4 deg orbit after the second Centaur burn.
• The Centaur then made two further burns to 470 x 780 km x 64.7 deg. The Centaur second stage carries the OUTSat secondary payload which ejected 11 small 'cubesats,' for a mixture of US military and university customers.
• The OUTSat structure is the NPSCUl launcher developed by the US Naval Postgraduate School. It contains 8 P-POD cubesat deployers which ejected the individual cubesats, a mixture of 1U (0.1m cube), 2U (0.1 x 0.1 x 0.2m box) and 3U (0.1 x 0.1 x 0.3m box) payloads, as follows:
  

    Pod 1 3U SMDC-ONE 1.2     (US Army Space and Missile Defence Command, Huntsville, Alabama)
                               Comms
    Pod 3 3U Aeneas           (U. Southern California, Los Angeles and Dept. of Homeland Security)
                               Cargo container tracking
    Pod 4 3U CSSWE            (U. Colorado, Boulder)  Colorado Student Space Weather Expt.
                               Radiation belt electrons and protons
    Pod 5 1U CP5              (Cal Poly. State U., San Luis Obispo)
                               Solar sail deorbit technology
          2U CXBN             (Morehead State U., Morehead, Kentucky)
                               Cosmic Hard X-ray background
    Pod 6 3U CINEMA 1         (U Cal. Berkeley)
                               Magentospheric studies
    Pod 7 3U Re               (Lawrence Livermore Natl. Lab, California)
                               Space debris tracking
    Pod 8 3U SMDC-ONE 1.1     (US Army Space and Missile Defence Command, Huntsville, Alabama)
                               Comms
    Pod 2 1U Aerocube 4       (Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, California)
          1U Aerocube 4A      (Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, California)
          1U Aerocube 4B      (Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, California)
  

  
  
• The payloads were ejected in the order Pod 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,2. The OUTSat remained attached to the Centaur.
  NRO refers to all 11 secondary (or auxiliary) CubeSat payloads on NROL-36 as the OUTSat (Operationally Unique Technologies Satellite) mission using for the first time the NPSCuL platform as a container structure for the 8 P-PODs.
  
  

  Photos of the integrated OUTSat P-PODs in the NPSCuL platform (left) along with the proud NPS students (right), image credit: NRO, NPS

External links:

• Satellite tracking: Real time satellite tracking
• EOportal.org Satellite description