When are the nanosats to be released?
It would make sense if NASA limited the pre-deployment orbit raising of Cygnus to just this 5 km.
Quote from: Comga on 11/26/2016 05:49 amCygnus is now reported by N2YO to be way above the ISSPerigee: 502.6 km Apogee: 511.2 kmWhat's going on?Cubesat deploying https://twitter.com/OrbitalATK/status/802258285650968578
Cygnus is now reported by N2YO to be way above the ISSPerigee: 502.6 km Apogee: 511.2 kmWhat's going on?
The mission, which has been approved by NASA, is the first of its kind to deploy satellites into a higher orbit after departing from the ISS. The altitude boost provided by Cygnus to approximately 500km increases the on-orbit lifespan of the Spire’s LEMUR-2 satellites from about 9 months in a typical ISS deployment to at least 2 years. That amount of time is just inside a CubeSat “goldilocks” zone where their long-term usefulness and orbital life are in near-equilibrium.
The requirement is to deorbit within 25 years. Since natural decay will occur from 500 km within 5 years, there is no need for a deorbit system for these satellites.