| Spacecraft name | M-Cubed (COVE, MCUBED, M3) |
|---|---|
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
| Units or mass | 1U |
| Status | Reentry 2024-06-30. Was semi-operational. Became conjoined with HBRE and could not receive signals, but transmitted beacon. |
| Launched | 2011-10-28 |
| NORAD ID | 37855 |
| Deployer | P-POD (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer) |
| Launcher | Delta II |
| Entity name | University of Michigan |
| Institution | University |
| Entity | Academic / Education |
| Nation | US |
| Launch brokerer | Cal Poly |
| Oneliner |
Demonstrate CubeSat platform and image Earth. |
| Description |
Obtain a mid resolution image to date of Earth with at least 60% land mass and a maximum of 20% cloud coverage from a single cubesat platform. MCubed bus with the intention of making it a heritage design, thus allowing for future missions to be flown on the same bus. |
| Failure cause | Became conjoined with HBRE and could not receive signals, but transmitted beacon. |
| Notes |
M-Cubed became magnetically conjoined to HBRE (Explorer-1 Prime), a second CubeSat released at the same time, via strong onboard magnets used for passive attitude controlThis is the first non-destructive latching of two satellites |
| Sources | [1] |
| Photo sources | [1] |
| On the same launch |
Last modified: 2024-09-29
