RAX 2

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  37853 / 11061D Launch date  28 Oct 2011 - 09:48 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-2W Launch vehicle  Delta-7920-10C Mission  Ionospheric research Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  464.7 x 817.4 km Eccentricity   Inclination  101.7 deg Period  97.4 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• RAX (Radio Aurora Explorer) is a student-built nanosatellite for ionospheric research. It is built on a triple CubeSat structure.
• The RAX will measure the energy flow in the ionosphere, the highest part of Earth's atmosphere where solar radiation turns regular atoms into charged particles.
• RAX is a Ground-to-Space Bistatic Radar Experiment. The RAX satellite will act as a receiver that will pick up signals from a ground radar transmitter. These radar pulses will reflect off disturbances, or space weather phenomena, in the ionosphere.

Mission details:

• The Delta 7920 launch vehicle carried six Cubesats in deployers attached to its final stage. The second deployer carred a 3U Cubesat, 0.1 x 0.3m, the RAX-2 Radio Aurora Explorer, an NSF-funded mission also from the University of Michigan.
• Launch from Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg was at 0948 UTC; Stage 2 reached a 195 x 853 km x 98.7 deg orbit at 0958 UTC. At 1040 UTC a second burn circulazed the orbit at 816 x 819 km and the NPP satellite separated at 1046 UTC. Stage 2's third burn at 1120 UTC lowered the orbit and increased inclination, to 458 x 816 km x 101.7 deg (a higher perigee than originally planned). At 1126 UTC the three 1U Cubesats were ejected, followed at 1128 UTC by RAX-2.