MISSION STATS
“On behalf of NASA, I commend you and your students for initiating this important scientific and educational project. It holds great promise.”
- former NASA Chief Scientist Shannon Lucid, Ph.D to Dr. David Miller,
MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Participate soon: as more square centimeters are filled, price points will increase.
This research effort is a collaboration between two of the world's premiere aerospace universities - MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The satellite will be launched aboard a rocket in approximately 2010. It will orbit the Earth for 5 weeks, after which the return vehicle will land in Utah. The spacecraft will be launched aboard an expendable rocket.
| Mass Properties | |
|---|---|
| Payload: | 125 kg |
| Entry, Descent and Landing System (EDLS): | 120 kg |
| Spacecraft Bus: | 155 kg |
| Launch Vehicle (LV) Interface | 15 kg |
| Total Launch Mass | 415 kg |
| Re-entry Mass | 245 kg |
| Critical Lengths | |
|---|---|
| Satellite Height: | 1.38 m |
| Satellite Width (including extended solar panels): | 3.52 m |
| EDLS Width: | 1.05 m |
| EDLS Height: | 0.88 m |
| Flight Parameters | |
|---|---|
| Delta-V (spin-up): | 1.22 m/s |
| Delta-V (spin-down): | 1.22 m/s |
| Delta-V (deorbit): | 101.57 m/s |
| Delta-V (maintenance): | 10 m/s |
| Delta-V (separation): | 10 m/s |
| Rate of Rotation: | 32 rpm |
| Power (nominal): | 125 W |
| Data Rate (up): | 128 Kbits/s |
| Data Rate (down): | 1.6 Mbits/s |
massachusetts institute of technology