ELaNa XX

PICS (Passive Inspection CubeSat) is a technology demonstration mission of a spacecraft capable of performing inspection, maintenance, and assembly on another spacecraft. It is developed by Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. PICS consists of two 1U CubeSats. It will demonstrate ultrafast booting and power-up operation of system electronics and the low-risk inspection of the exterior of a spacecraft by a passive, flyaway probe. The two flight systems deployed simultaneously will enable the collection of image data from each other as well as the parent spacecraft.

Fox-1E is a radio amateur and technology research CubeSat developed by AMSAT and hosting several university-developed payloads. Fox-1E is a 1U CubeSat designed to operate in Low Earth Orbit based on the design of Fox 1A. It carries a 2-meter whip antenna and a 70-cm whip antenna. As affordable launch opportunities for amateur communications satellites become increasingly rare, AMSAT devised a new strategy: a small CubeSat, which hosts both an amateur communications payload as well as a scientific or technological payload, so that the satellite qualifies for launches in sponsored programs like NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) Program. CAPE 3 (Cajun Advanced Picosat Experiment 3) is the third satellite developed at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment (CAPE-3) is an educational mission that will fly the Smartphone CubeSat Classroom, which allows anyone with a smartphone to set up a ground station with a kit. Interactive educational activities will give students the ability to interact with the CubeSat via an app on their smartphone and use their smartphone to design their own CubeSat experiments.

MiTEE (Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment) is a CubeSat mission developed by the University of Michigan to utilize CubeSat capabilities to deploy a picosatellite body of approximately 8 cm × 8 cm × 2 cm from a 3U CubeSat to demonstrate and assess an ultra-small satellite electrodynamic tether in the space environment where the fundamental dynamics and plasma electrodynamics. The Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment (MiTEE) mission will utilize CubeSat capabilities to deploy a picosatellite body of approximately 8 cm × 8 cm × 2 cm from a 3U CubeSat to demonstrate and assess an ultra-small satellite electrodynamic tether in the space environment where the fundamental dynamics and plasma electrodynamics. The miniature electrodynamic tethers (few meters long) have the potential to provide propellantless propulsion, passive 2-axis attitude stabilization, and enhanced communication utility to the next generation of small satellites.

TechEdSat 7 (Technical and Educational Satellite 7) is a 2U CubeSat. It was built as a conjoined project between San Jose State University (SJSU) and the University of Idaho as a collaborative engineering project, with oversight from the NASA Ames Research Center. It is a technology demonstration mission that will further develop the Exo-Brake system by testing a High Packing Density ExoBrake, as well as demonstrate a CubeSat Identity Tag (CUBIT), a DARPA RF-ID system for future identification of functioning and non-functioning nanosatellites.

The CACTUS 1 (Coordinated Applied Capitol Technology University Satellite 1) is a 3U CubeSat mission developed at the Capitol Technology University to demonstrate new technologies for nanosatellites. Capitol Technology University CACTUS-1 is a technological demonstration of a cost-saving communications and commanding innovation that will enable scientific data gathering and contribute risk parameterization and mitigation services to aid both academic and industry teams in future missions. ExoCube or CP 10 is a space weather satellite sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Its primary mission is to directly measure the density of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Helium, and Nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. Current models of the upper atmosphere are based on ground-based radar measurements (Incoherent Scatter Radar – ISR). Cal Poly is designing the core satellite, while the scient payload is supplied by NASA-GSFC. The University of Wisconsin – Madison will test the science, Scientific Solutions, Inc (SSI).

PolarCube is a 3U CubeSat based on the ALL-STAR platform and featuring an Earth-sensing passive microwave instrument with suborbital aircraft flight heritage that is currently being miniaturized for an orbital opportunity to provide atmospheric temperature profile measurements and sea ice/ ice-free ocean detection and mapping. This instrument, already prototyped, will be the first passive microwave sensor flown on a small satellite. The Q-PACE or Cu-PACE (CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment) is a 3U CubeSat mission developed at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to investigate the behaviour of dust particles in low gravity and to perform long-duration microgravity experiments in orbit to observe novel low-speed collisions in greater numbers than possible in ground-based, parabolic and suborbital flight experiments.