AeroCube-16 Spacecraft - Nanosats Database

Name	AeroCube-16
Spacecraft type	CubeSat
Units or mass	6U
Organization	Aerospace Corporation
Institution	Non-profit
Entity type	Government (Civil / Military)
Country	US
Oneliner	Various advanced materials experiments and lasercomm payload for intersatellite link.
Description	Hosting a number of advanced materials experiments. Flashlight is two lasercomm payloads that will demonstrate an optical comm link between CubeSats in LEO orbit. The goal of this project, led by Principal Investigator Todd Rose in PSL’s Electronics and Photonics Laboratory, is to transfer at least 50 Mbps of data while the two spacecraft are 500 km apart. The payloads should be no larger than 2U and less than 2kg, and will have independent mirror pointing with Fast-Steering Mirror to improve performance over body pointing. Flashlight will fly on AeroCube-16, a set of two 6U CubeSats that are scheduled to be done in FY21.
Sources	[1] [2] [3]
Keywords	Laser transmitter, Intersatellite links

Related Spacecraft

Name	Status	Launcher	Date	Orbit
AeroCube-16A	Operational? (News not found but object identified as of 2024-05-26)	Electron	2024-03-21	510 km, 50 deg
AeroCube-16B	Operational? (News not found but object identified as of 2024-05-26)	Electron	2024-03-21	510 km, 50 deg

Last modified: 2024-05-30