{"id":18063,"date":"2019-03-03T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=18063"},"modified":"2021-10-06T11:17:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T15:17:03","slug":"student-and-amateur-cubesat-news-roundup-march-2-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=18063","title":{"rendered":"Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – March.3.2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat<\/a> \/ SmallSat projects and programs:<\/p>\n

** The Virginia CubeSat Constellation<\/em><\/a> involves students<\/strong> at four Virginia universities and is supported by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium<\/a>. They have developed three CubeSats that will be launched to the ISS on a Cygnus cargo craft and then sent into orbit by a NanoRacks<\/a> deployment system:\u00a0 Three Virginia University Satellites Get Closer to Launch – Virginia Space Grant Consortium (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n

A giant leap towards space for Virginia university students took place on February 26 when students from three Virginia universities delivered their small satellites to NanoRacks in Houston to be integrated into the Company\u2019s commercially developed CubeSat deployer (NRCSD) and then launched on Northrop Grumman\u2019s Antares to the International Space Station.<\/em><\/p>\n

The satellites are part of the Virginia CubeSat Constellation mission, a collaborative project of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and four of its member universities: Old Dominion University (ODU), Virginia Tech (VT), University of Virginia (UVA), and Hampton University (HU). Three nano-satellites, each about 4 inches cubed and weighing approximately 3 pounds, have been developed and instrumented (one each at ODU, VT and UVA) to obtain measurements of the properties of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. As the orbits of the satellites decay due to atmospheric drag, satellite instruments will quantify atmospheric density.<\/em><\/p>\n

The three CubeSats will be deployed via the NRCSD by astronauts aboard the International Space Station into orbit near-simultaneously so they can orbit together and function as a constellation. The ODU satellite, which has a drag brake to intentionally cause orbital decay, is expected to remain in orbit for up to four months. The other two satellites should orbit for up to two years at an altitude of 250 miles before burning up when they re-enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The satellites will communicate data to ground stations at Virginia Tech, University of Virginia and Old Dominion University for subsequent analysis using an analytical tool being developed by Hampton University students from the Atmospheric and Planetary Science Department.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also<\/p>\n