SkyCube

SkyCube
Spacecraft properties
SkyCube in undeployed state

Mission type	Earth imaging
Operator	Southern Stars
Mission duration	90 days planned

Spacecraft type	1U CubeSat
Launch mass	1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb)

Start of mission
Launch date	9 January 2014, 18:07:05 (2014-01-09UTC18:07:05Z) UTC
Rocket	Antares 120
Launch site	MARS LP-0A
Contractor	Orbital Sciences
Deployed from	International Space Station

End of mission
Last contact	27 March 2014 (2014-03-28)
Decay date	8 November 2014

Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	414 km (257 mi)
Apogee	419 km (260 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Epoch

SkyCube was an American crowdsourced CubeSat. It was first announced on Kickstarter on 14 July 2012 and successfully funded on 12 September 2012, meeting its US$82,500 goal with a total of $116,890. It was developed and built in 2012–2013, completed flight integration at NanoRacks in late 2013,^[1] and finally launched aboard the Cygnus CRS Orb-1 flight^[2] at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. SkyCube was deployed from the International Space Station on February 28, 2014. Contact with the satellite was last made on March 27, 2014. SkyCube re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on November 9, 2014.^[3]

Mission

SkyCube has three major mission components: the broadcast of messages from its radio, the capture of pictures from space via its three cameras, and the deployment of a large balloon.

Messages

The SkyCube radio emits periodic beaconing pings which contain 120-byte messages from the Kickstarter backers. These pings are transmitted at 915 MHz, using the AX.25 protocol at 9600 baud with BPSK modulation, with a callsign of WG9XMF.^[4]

Imaging

Using its three cameras, SkyCube will take pictures of the Earth from orbit. The cameras are VGA resolution and have lenses with three different fields of view (120°, 35°, and 6°), giving a variety of imaging possibilities. The images will be transmitted back to Earth at 57.6 kbit/s. Kickstarter backers will choose when the pictures are taken. NOAA granted a 90-day imaging license to SkyCube on 1 February 2013.^[5]

Balloon

SkyCube will deploy a large (2 metres (6.6 ft)) balloon at the end of its mission. The balloon is coated with reflective titanium dioxide and will make it visible from the ground. The balloon will also increase the atmospheric drag on SkyCube, and within two weeks the orbit will decay enough that SkyCube will enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up safely. The inflation is triggered via 4-gram CO₂ canister.

Technical specifications

Dimensions	100 × 100 × 113 mm CubeSat standard
Interface specification	ISIPOD 1.4I
Mass	1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb)
Expected lifetime	60 – 90 days
Attitude control system	Passive magnotorquers
Power	9 total panels: one roof panel and 8 deployable panels. Each panel consists of 24 Spectrolab triangular cells wired in series-parallel for a nominal 12 volts.
Batteries	2x Li-ion 18650 cells, 8.4V 2300 mAh, Molicell ICR18650J.
Power bus	3.3V, 5V regulated. Constant-current driver for solar panel deployment (Nichrome burn wires).
Primary downlink	915 MHz, AX.25 protocol, BPSK modulation, 57.6 kbit/s
Telemetry/messaging downlink	915 MHz, AX.25 protocol, BPSK modulation, 9.6 kbit/s
Command uplink	450 MHz, AX.25 protocol, FSK modulation, 9.6 kbit/s

Partnerships

SkyCube relies on several partners to provide necessary services:

Organization	Function
Naval Postgraduate School	Ground station services in North America and Hawaii^[6]
Saber Astronautics	Ground station and Mission Control services in Australia^[7]
Orbital Sciences	Launch provider
NanoRacks	Integrator^[1]
Astronautical Development, LLC	Radios and structural components

In the media

SkyCube was featured on the 9 May 2013 broadcast of ABC7 KGO-TV news^[8]
SkyCube: a social space mission
SkyCube is a small crowdfunded satellite

References

External links

← 2013 · Orbital launches in 2014 · 2015 →

January	GSAT-14 – Thaicom 6 – CRS Orb-1 (Flock-1 × 28 · ArduSat-2 · Lituanica SAT-1 · LitSat-1 · SkyCube · UAPSat-1) – TDRS-L

February	Progress M-22M – ABS-2 · Athena-Fidus – Türksat 4A – USA-248 – GPM Core · Ginrei · KSAT-2 · INVADER · OPUSAT · STARS-II · TeikyoSat-3 · ITF-1

March	Ekspress AT1 · Ekspress AT2 – Astra 5B · Amazonas 4A – Kosmos 2494 – Soyuz TMA-12M – Shijian XI-06

April	USA-249 – Sentinel-1A – IRNSS-1B – Progress M-23M – Ofek-10 – USA-250 – EgyptSat 2 – SpaceX CRS-3 · KickSat · PhoneSat 2.5 · ALL-STAR/THEIA · SporeSat · TestSat-Lite – Luch 5V · KazSat-3 – KazEOSat 1

May	Kosmos 2495 – Ekspress AM4R – USA-251 – USA-252 – Kosmos 2496 · Kosmos 2497 · Kosmos 2498 · Kosmos 2499 – ALOS-2 · Raijin-2 · UNIFORM-1 · SOCRATES · SPROUT – Eutelsat 3B – Soyuz TMA-13M

June	Kosmos 2500 – Deimos-2 · KazEOSat 2 · Hodoyoshi 3 · Hodoyoshi 4 · AprizeSat 9, 10 · BRITE-Montreal · BRITE-Toronto · BugSat 1 · SaudiSat-4 · TabletSat-Aurora · UniSat-6 (AeroCube-6 · ANTELSAT · Lemur-1 · Tigrisat) · DTUSat-2 · Duchifat-1 · NanoSatC-Br 1 · PACE · Perseus-M × 2 · PolyITAN-1 · POPSAT-HIP-1 · QB50P1 · QB50P2 · Flock-1c × 11 – SPOT 7 · CanX-4 · CanX-5 · AISat · VELOX-I

July	OCO-2 – Gonets-M 18, 19, 20 – Meteor-M 2 · AISSat-2 · DX-1 · Relek · SkySat-2 · TechDemoSat-1 · UKube-1 – O3b × 4 (FM3, FM6, FM7, FM8) – CRS Orb-2 (Flock-1b × 28 · TechEdSat-4) – Orbcomm-2 × 6 – Foton-M No.4 – Progress M-24M – USA-253 · USA-254 · USA-255 – Georges Lemaître ATV

August	USA-256 – AsiaSat 8 – Yaogan 20 A, B, C – WorldView-3 – Gaofen 2 · Heweliusz – Galileo FOC-1 · Galileo FOC-2

September	Chuangxin 1-04 · Lingqiao – AsiaSat 6 – Yaogan 21 · Tiantuo 2 – MEASAT 3b · Optus 10 – USA-257 – SpaceX CRS-4 – Soyuz TMA-14M – Olimp-K – Shijian XI-07

October	Himawari 8 – IRNSS-1C – Intelsat 30 · ARSAT-1 – Yaogan 22 – Ekspress AM6 – Chang'e 5-T1 · 4M – Shijian 11-08 – Cygnus CRS Orb-3 (Arkyd-3 · Flock-1d × 26 · GOMX-2 · RACE) – Progress M-25M – USA-258 – Meridian 7

November	Sasuke · Hodoyoshi 1 · Kinshachi 1 · Tsukushi · Tsubame – Yaogan 23 – Yaogan 24 – Kuaizhou 2 – Soyuz TMA-15M – Kosmos 2501

December	Hayabusa 2 · PROCYON · Shinen 2 · DESPATCH – Orion EFT-1 – DirecTV-14 · GSAT-16 – CBERS-4 – Yaogan 25 A, B, C – USA-259 – Yamal-401 – O3b × 4 (FM9 to FM12) – Kondor-E No.2 – IPM – Kosmos 2502 – Resurs-P No.2 – Yaogan 26 – Astra 2G – Fengyun 2-08

Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ). Manned flights are bolded. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets).

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