AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)

AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)
AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)
AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)
Spacecraft name AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)
Type CubeSat
Units or mass 3U
Organization Aerospace Corporation
Institution Non-profit
Entity type Government (Civil / Military)
Nation US
Launch brokerer TriSept
Partners NASA Earth Science Technology Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, DRS Technology
Oneliner

Multispectral pushbroom imager and laser transmitter for downlink.

Description

Demonstrate the utility of CubeSats to perform remote-sensing missions at a level comparable to that of large spacecraft. The satellite will produce data useful for agricultural and mineral surveys, as well as coastal water quality monitoring. Multispectral, pushbroom imager that flies the Landsat-8 visible bands. 2.5-cm-diameter telescope paired with a visible-light sensor, 3-axis attitude control, 8 GB of image storage space, and a laser transmitter to downlink the images at a very high rate (up to 200Mbit/sec).

Results

Results show good multispectral image quality from the CubeSat sensor, and illustrate the ability of R3 to detect vegetation and other features in a manner similar to Landsat, as well as the challenge in perfectly exposing all 6 VIS/NIR Landsat bands using our commercial 10-bit CMOS array.

We planned and accomplished a Landsat-8 near conjunction collection on 22 January, 2020 over France. These R3 data have not yet been transmitted via lasercom, due to star sensor degradation issues which have made closing the laser link difficult. These data may eventually be downlinked via the experimental software defined radio which was successfully brought online during the mission.

Sources [1] [2] [3]
Photo sources [1]
Keywords Laser transmitter
Space photos AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3)

[1]

Related Spacecraft

Name Status Rocket Launch Orbit
AeroCube-11A (AC11, TOMSat Eagle Scout , Rapid + Responsive + Reimagined, Testbed for Optical Missions Satellite) Operational (Indirect tweet from Jonathan McDowell on 2019-03-04) Electron 2018-12-16 510 km, 85 deg
AeroCube-11B (AC11, TOMSat R3, Rapid + Responsive + Reimagined, Testbed for Optical Missions Satellite) Operational (Smallsat 2020) Electron 2018-12-16 510 km, 85 deg

Last modified: 2023-06-08

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