MAST

Launch data: Designation  31126 / 07012K Launch date  17 Apr 2007 - 06:46 UT Launch site  B, LC-109/95 Launch vehicle  Dnepr-1 Mission  Tech Earth orbit on: Perigee / Apogee  647 x 782 km Inclination  98.07° Period  99.08 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• MAST is a triplet of 1-kg Cubesats that demonstrate space tether survivability. It consists of TED (the Tether Deployer) satellite, with a 1-km deployable multi-strand Hoytether; RALPH, the small end mass satellite and between them GADGET, an Inspector satellite which can crawl up and down the tether. Before deployment, the MAST is 0.3-meter x 0.1-meter. Built by Stanford University students, it is intended to study damage to the multiple-wire tether due to meteoric impacts and UV-engendered degradation. The lifetimes of current single-line tethers are limited by damage due to meteorite and orbital debris impactors to periods on the order of weeks. The Hoytether is a tether structure composed of multiple lines with redundant interlinking that is able to withstand many impacts. GADGET slowly crawl up and down the tether, taking pictures of the tether as it goes. These pictures will be transmitted to a ground station for analysis to determine how quickly the tether experiences damage due to impacts by micrometeoroids and orbital debris, as well as due to erosion by atomic oxygen and UV light. Two of the three craft were to separate as freeflyers. All three picosatellites contain GPS receivers and data from these receivers will be collected to provide information on the dynamics of tethered formations of spacecraft and the performance of tether deployment technologies.

Mission details:

• MAST 1 consists of the TED (Tether Deployer) satellite, with a 1 km deployable multi-strand Hoytether; RALPH, the small end mass satellite; and between them, GADGET, an Inspector satellite which can crawl up and down the tether. Before deployment the MAST vehicle is 0.3m x 0.1m, fitting inside a triple cubesat envelope.