AeroCube 3

Launch data: Designation  35005 / 09028E Launch date  19 May 2009 - 23:55 UT Launch site  WI, LA-0B Launch vehicle  Minotaur-1 Mission  Commercial: Technology LEO Earth orbit on May 21.93: Perigee / Apogee  428 x 466 km Eccentricity  2.42E-03 Inclination  40.48 deg Period  93.53 min

Photo of the AeroCube-3 CubeSat (image credit: The Aerospace Corporation)

Descriptions:

• AeroCube-3 is an advanced single-unit CubeSat demonstration mission of the Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, USA with funding provided by the USAF SMC (Space and Missile Systems Center) of the Los Angeles AFB. It is the third AeroCube satellite, following on from AeroCube-1, which was lost in a launch failure on July 26, 2006, and AeroCube-2 which was successfully launched on April 7, 2007, but failed almost immediately after launch - however, not before testing and confirming the utility of a new ground station in El Segundo, CA and taking the first ever picture of another CubeSat in space.
• Compared to its predecessors, AeroCube-3 contains several improvements in its infrastructure, including a redesigned power system, replacing the older system which was responsible for the loss of AeroCube-2. 1)
• The mission objectives of AeroCube-3 are:
  • Test bus performance
  • Photograph LV (Launch Vehicle) final stage
  • Further develop mission operations for this satellite class.

Mission details:

• AeroCube-3 was launched on May 19, 2009 on a Minotaur-1 vehicle of OSC (Orbital Sciences Corporation) from the commercial MARS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport) at Wallops Island, VA.
• AeroCube was a tertiary payload, with TacSat-3 of AFRL as the primary payload, and PharmaSat-1 (triple cube of 5 kg = nanosatellite) as the secondary. Two other CubeSats, HawkSat-1 of the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences, Pocomoke City, MD, and CP-6 (CalPoly-6) of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, were also launched, and together the three satellites were known as the CubeSat Technology Demonstration mission. 2)
• Two P-PODs (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployers) were mounted on the fourth stage motor casing. One P-POD contained the triple CubeSat (PharmaSat-1), developed by NASA/ARC. The other P-POD contained AeroCube-3, HawkSat-1 and CP-6.
• After launch, AeroCube-3 was tethered to the P-POD and effectively to the upper stage by means of a 61 m tether. However, the tether broke and AeroCube-3 floated away from the stage. First tethered to rocket, then free for experiments.

External links:

• EOportal.org Satellite description