A CubeSat is a specification for creating small satellites that are made up of individual 'cubes'. They are usually created using off-the-shelf parts (as opposed to more traditional satellites that use bespoke components) to keep costs down and allow you to send them into space attached to other launches. Further information about CubeSats is available on the official website.
The ones referenced in this article are 1.5 units each (about 4 inches x 4 inches x 6.7 inches (10 centimeters x 10 centimeters x 17 centimeters) and weigh approximately 5 pounds (2.5 kilograms).
The OCSD Project!
The project is called The Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration Project, or OCSD for short.
On a regular supplies mission to the International Space Station scheduled this Saturday (11th November 2017) NASA are sending a couple of CubeSats. These will be joining an existing CubeSat that was deployed in 2015 to test maneuverability of small spacecraft within close proximity of each other, along with fast data transfer rates amongst themselves and Earth, and an inexpensive propulsion system designed to assist with maneuvers.
The intention is to start these two CubeSats 2 kilometres from each other, and bring them to within 200 metres. NASA say that this has never before been achieved, and that:
"Capabilities in proximity operations will enable multiple small spacecraft to operate cooperatively during science or exploration missions, to approach another spacecraft or object for in-space observation or servicing, or to connect small spacecraft together to form larger systems or networks in space".
Regarding the propulsion system Nasa are trialling using water as a propellant. The CubeSats heat the water and eject steam through a nozel to provide thrust.
Each CubeSat's body is fitted with a hard-mounted laser for communications. Because of this, in order to change where the beam is pointing the whole CubeSat must rotate. This was done because it makes the whole communication system much more compact and lightweight. To assist with orientating the CubeSat each one also has a pair of miniature star trackers to measure the location of stars, to an accuracy of 0.05 degrees (20 times the precision achieved before this for similar-sized satellites).
This laser based communication system will be tested by sending data down to a ground station at a rate between 5 Megabits per second to 200 Megabits per second. The higher end of this scale is a 100 times increase vs current high-end CubeSat communications systems.
Along with this fast speed, NASA say that the technology could be simply upgraded to accommodate 2.5 Gigabits per second or higher. This opens up a whole new capability of being able to (relatively) cheaply deploy satellites into Space that can process high-quality video or images much faster than via the common radio/microwave links that we use at present.
Hopefully the launch this weekend goes well!
What did you think about this article? Let the writer/editor know in the comments or in a private message.
WRITTEN BY Bedders
EDITED BY Infinity - lewis.holt@ufplanets.com
