RELEASE: 10-023
NASA CUES UP UNIVERSITY CUBESATS FOR GLORY LAUNCH THIS FALL
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA will launch small research satellites for
several universities as part of the agency's Educational Launch of
Nanosatellite, or ELaNA, mission. The satellites are manifested as an
auxiliary payload on the Taurus XL launch vehicle for NASA's Glory
mission, planned for liftoff in late November.
The satellites, called CubeSats because of their shape, come from
Montana State University, the University of Colorado and Kentucky
Space, a consortium of state universities. The University of Florida
was selected as an alternate in case one of the three primary
spacecraft cannot fly.
CubeSats are in a class of small research spacecraft called
picosatellites. They have a size of approximately four inches, a
volume of about one quart, and weigh no more than 2.2 pounds.
To place these satellites into orbit by an agency expendable launch
vehicle, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is adapting the
Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or PPOD. This deployment system,
designed and manufactured by the California Polytechnic State
University in partnership with Stanford University, has flown
previously on Department of Defense and commercial launch vehicles.
Montana State designated its satellite as Explorer 1 Prime, or E1P.
The name honors the launch and scientific discoveries of the
Explorer-1 mission, which detected the Van Allen radiation belts more
than 50 years ago. E1P will carry a miniature Geiger tube to measure
the intensity and variability of the electrons in the Van Allen
belts.
Colorado's satellite is named Hermes. Its mission is to improve
CubeSat communications through the on-orbit testing of a high
data-rate communication system that will allow the downlink of large
quantities of data.
The Kentucky vehicle is called KySat-1. It includes a camera to
support a scientific outreach program intended for, but not limited
to, Kentucky students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The
satellite also has a 2.4-gigahertz industrial, scientific and medical
band radio, which will be used to test high-bandwidth communications
in the license-free portion of the S-band.
The satellites will hitch a ride to space with the Taurus rocket's
primary payload, NASA's Glory spacecraft. The Glory climate mission,
developed by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, will extend the
nearly 30-year record of precise measurements of the sun's energy
output. It also will obtain first-ever, global measurements of the
distribution of tiny airborne aerosol particles. Aerosols represent
one of the greatest areas of uncertainty in understanding Earth's
climate system.
The ELaNA project is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program at
Kennedy. For more information about the program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy