Author Topic: Planet Labs earth imaging satellites (Read 124943 times)

Blackstar · « **Reply #80 on:** 02/17/2014 01:04 pm »

Earlier in the thread there was some discussion of Skybox. Here's something on them and it is the first article I've seen that indicates that their resolution is 0.9 meters.

Robotbeat · « **Reply #81 on:** 02/17/2014 08:54 pm »

Quote from: Blackstar on 02/17/2014 01:04 pm

Earlier in the thread there was some discussion of Skybox. Here's something on them and it is the first article I've seen that indicates that their resolution is 0.9 meters.

Resolution depends on wavelength and altitude. It's quite possible that they'll get 1m to start with in red, but 0.5m in blue by the time the orbits have decayed somewhat.

InfraNut2 · « **Reply #82 on:** 02/19/2014 06:29 am »

JEM-RMS and JEM airlock work sceduled for today (according to http://spacestationlive.nasa.gov/timeline/). I assume it is for returning the Nanoracks deployer inside to start the changeout to the second batch.

I assume Koichi will do most of the work like for the first batch. He was busy yesterday releasing Cygnus with the big arm together with Mike. The cygnus coverage showed that the deployer was still outside yesterday.

Bonus picture is one tweeted from Nanoracks around 11 h ago. Super timing just as the first of the 2 dove cubesats is exiting the tube and the lid/flap with the rod antenna(?) is starting to open. It is coming out of deployer 6 and you can see the troublesome deployers 4 and 5 are still closed (they got them to work in the end after the rest was released).

edit: Added Second bonus picture (via @ShuttleAlmanac) that shows 2 doves in front of the ISS solar arrays. Notice the second satellite has not opened the lid/flap yet -- intentionally so as not to "slap" the one in front.

edit2: Nothing mentioned about this in this mornings DPC, but that is normal when there are no questions from the astronauts and the ground has no last-minute info/comments not covered in the uploaded procedures and plans.

Ah, well -- off to work. Hopefully some update(s) will find its way here before I return.

Fuji · « **Reply #83 on:** 02/20/2014 01:49 am »

Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata spent much of his morning in the Kibo laboratory working in concert with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight controllers as they prepare to launch another batch of mini-satellites. While the flight controllers remotely operated the Japanese Experiment Module’s robotic arm, Wakata helped return the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform to the airlock. A new set of NanoRacks CubeSats will be installed in the mechanism’s launcher devices for the start of a second round of Cubesat deployments beginning next Tuesday.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/combustion-research-biology-experiments-on-station-wednesday/

Comga · « **Reply #84 on:** 02/20/2014 02:48 am »

Is PlanetLabs paying for all of this assistance from Wakata and the JAXA flight controllers?

InfraNut2 · « **Reply #85 on:** 02/20/2014 06:38 pm »

NanoRacks @NanoRacks :

Hatches now closed for next #ISS #Cubesat deployment cycle. Looks like 17:00 GMT Tuesday to start this cycle.

edit:

Quick work! It was only yesterday it was brought back into the JEM airlock, as confirmed by the report Fuji quoted as well as the ISS daily summary:

Quote from: ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/19/14

Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations: This morning, the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) with attached NRCSDs was returned by the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to the JEM Airlock Slide Table and then brought back into the JEM Airlock.

Fuji · « **Reply #86 on:** 02/21/2014 03:18 am »

Wakata worked in the Japanese Kibo laboratory to prepare the second batch of NanoRacks CubeSats for their deployment beginning next Tuesday. Wakata opened the inner hatch to the airlock and replaced the empty deployers on the Multipurpose Experiment Platform with loaded deployers.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/station-astronauts-prep-nanosatellites-talk-with-students/

InfraNut2 · « **Reply #87 on:** 02/24/2014 12:27 pm »

A few more details on the preparation for the next batch from the ISS daily summary for Thursday:

Quote from: ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/20/14

Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations: Wakata pressurized the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock, performed a leak check, then opened the inner hatch to bring the Airlock slide table into the JEM. He then replaced the empty NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers (NRCSDs) on the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) with loaded new NRCSDs. Later in the afternoon, Wakata retracted the slide table with the loaded NRCSDs back into the Airlock and closed the inner hatch. Next week, the loaded NRCSDs will be extended out of the JEM Airlock to the exterior of the ISS. JAXA Flight Controllers will then utilize the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) in order to grapple the MPEP and maneuver it to the launch position. Seventeen CubeSats are scheduled to be launched next week.

edit: added picture

@Astro_Wakata tweeted this picture on Friday. It is evidently a closeup of the deployers for the second batch ready to go into the airlock. Given the report above it must have been taken Thursday.

InfraNut2 · « **Reply #88 on:** 02/25/2014 04:07 pm »

Start of second cubesat batch deployments

- Tsukuba confirmed cubesat deployment coming up 5 min ahead.

- Koichi taking a break from ARED exercise to snap pictures.

- Tsukuba doing countdown to help Koichi capture photos.

- CubeSat Release confirmed.

- Tsukuba: "It was a beautiful deployment"

- Koichi: "We enjoyed the wiew"

Do not know whether the 5 non-PlanetLabs cubesats are deployed last (assumed) or first (now). It was probably 2 PlanetLabs CubeSats that was released today. We will have to wait for written confirmation from PlanetLabs or one of the other CubeSat owners to know for sure, I guess.

edit: Quickly confirmed by @NanoRacks :

NanoRacks confirms start of second round of #ISS #Cubesat deployment with successful deploy of two more satellites.

edit2: late addition of daily report for completeness

Quote from: ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/25/14

Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations and Deploys: This morning, Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Wakata depressurized the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock, opened the outer hatch and extended the slide table out to the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF) on the exterior of the ISS. JAXA Flight Controllers removed the 8 NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers (NRCSDs) from the slide table utilizing the JEM Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and moved them to their deploy position. Two Cubesats were then successfully launched from one of these NRCSDs. Later this week, 15 additional Cubesats will be launched from the remaining NRCSDs. CubeSat format satellites are launched from the ISS for a variety of commercial and national customers.

pericynthion · « **Reply #89 on:** 02/25/2014 04:38 pm »

Yes, Planet Labs cubesats today. Two more out the door

jcm · « **Reply #90 on:** 02/26/2014 06:41 am »

There was going to be another deploy at 0730 UTC but I didn't see it happen...

pericynthion · « **Reply #91 on:** 02/26/2014 06:43 am »

It happened

jcm · « **Reply #92 on:** 02/27/2014 04:51 am »

And two more must have been deployed sometime today - they have just been cataloged

So far in the new batch we have

Flock 1-17 39555 1998-067DY Feb 25 1710?
Flock 1-18 39556 1998-067DZ
Flock 1-19 39557 1998-067EA Feb 26 0735
Flock 1-20 39558 1998-067EB
Flock 1-21 39559 1998-067EC Feb 26 unknown
Flock 1-22 39560 1998-067ED

- assuming they were ejected in deployer order so far.
All the sats are in approx 409 x 416 km x 51.65 deg orbit.
The first sat ejected, Flock 1-1/39512, has now decayed to 400 x 407 km.

pericynthion · « **Reply #93 on:** 02/27/2014 05:01 am »

Second batch deploys so far:

2/25 17:00:03 Flock1-17 Flock1-18
2/26 04:20:02 Flock1-21 Flock1-22
2/26 07:35:01 Flock1-19 Flock1-20
2/27 01:50:11 Flock1-23 Flock1-24 (deployment moved up)

(same wiring reasons as before that lead to the deployer swap, hence out-of-order)

The space track catalog assignments, even for the previous batch, don't seem to be fully stable yet.

Just 4 sats in 2 pods left, scheduled 2/27 07:40 and 2/28 04:20.

jcm · « **Reply #94 on:** 02/27/2014 05:10 am »

Great, thanks!

Yeah, space-track/JSPOC have a habit of deciding to change the IDs for satellites without telling anybody, I expect it will take a month or two to stabilize.

Fuji · « **Reply #95 on:** 02/27/2014 06:32 am »

This photo is taken 25 Feb.
Three Canister door was already opend.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/12801808703/

And here is interesting photo. Assemblying the NRCSDs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/12798086543/

Fuji · « **Reply #96 on:** 02/27/2014 06:39 am »

This information is not Planet Labs CubeSats but, may be this is the last deploy.

LitSat-1 with linear transponder deploys Friday
http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/26/litsat-1-with-linear-transponder/

Quote

Our country Lithuania is heading towards a historic moment – start of the first Lithuanian satellite in space. First ever Lithuanian Cubesat Litsat1 is due to be launched within couple of days only – on Feb 28 at 07:30 UT from the International Space Station (ISS).

anik · « **Reply #97 on:** 02/27/2014 01:12 pm »

ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/26/14
http://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2014/02/26/iss-daily-summary-report-022614/

Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations and Deploys: Overnight 4 CubeSats were successfully launched by JAXA Robotic Flight Controllers from two NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) locations. Eleven more satellites will be deployed in the next 2 days. CubeSat format satellites are launched from the ISS for a variety of commercial and national customers.

InfraNut2 · « **Reply #98 on:** 02/27/2014 03:37 pm »

Quote from: anik on 02/27/2014 01:12 pm

Eleven more satellites will be deployed in the next 2 days.

Wow! they are really popping them out fast!

I was just a tiny bit skeptical when the daily report for Tuesday 25 said that all the 17 CubeSats would be deployed this week, but that seems to come through. In hindsight, it was not unlikely at all:

Reason 1: The non-PlanetLabs CubeSats are presumably not deployment-time sensitive, so they can be popped out with short intervals.

Reason 2: JAXA+NanoRacks team now know this system well enough that delays to troubleshoot/retry things are probably no longer needed.

jcm · « **Reply #99 on:** 02/27/2014 10:17 pm »

Quote from: InfraNut2 on 02/27/2014 03:37 pm

Quote from: anik on 02/27/2014 01:12 pm
Eleven more satellites will be deployed in the next 2 days.

Wow! they are really popping them out fast!

I was just a tiny bit skeptical when the daily report for Tuesday 25 said that all the 17 CubeSats would be deployed this week, but that seems to come through. In hindsight, it was not unlikely at all:

Reason 1: The non-PlanetLabs CubeSats are presumably not deployment-time sensitive, so they can be popped out with short intervals.

Reason 2: JAXA+NanoRacks team now know this system well enough that delays to troubleshoot/retry things are probably no longer needed.

Reason 1 doesn't really apply - the PLabs sats are popping out at the rate of 4 a day anyway. The non PLabs sats
are 1U and 2U vs the larger PLabs 3U sats, so a single deployer pops all five of them out simultaneously (should be fun to see)