NEA-Scout @ Nanosats Database

Name	NEA-Scout (Near Earth Asteroid Scout, NEA SCOUT)
Type	CubeSat
Units or mass	6U
Status	No signal (Official NASA update on 2022-12-09 as of 2022-12-24)
Launched	2022-11-16
NORAD ID	? (Not yet catalogued and tracked?)
Deployer	CSD (Canisterized Satellite Dispenser) [Planetary Systems Corporation]
Launcher	SLS (Space Launch System) (Artemis-1)
Organisation	NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Institution	Space agency
Entity	Government (Civil / Military)
Nation	US
Oneliner	Rendezvous with an asteroid using solar sail and gather detailed imagery.
Description	Mission to rendezvous with an asteroid and gather detailed imagery. Use a solar sail to enable a cubesat to travel slowly past an asteroid. Use an onboard camera with color filters to gather high-resolution imagery.
Results	Failed to make contact with controllers after launch. Controllers even sent commands to NEA Scout to deploy its solar sail, hoping it might be seen by telescopes on the ground, but there was no evidence the sail deployed. 70m searching; no signals yet; EOM declared March 30, 2023. No detection. Over the 4th and 5th tracks, Radio Science detected a tone initially thought to be NEAS. This initial detection was eventually determined to be a side-band of BIOS. JPL Radio Science supported a spacecraft emergency with WebEx through DOY 326 and continued to script and check OLR for NEAS through early 2023.
Sources	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Photo sources	[1] [2] [3]
COTS subsystems	ADCS - Blue Canyon XACT RWS - Blue Canyon RW SOLAR PANELS - Blue Canyon
Subsystems sources	[1]
Keywords	Solar sail, Propulsion, Beyond Earth orbit

Last modified: 2023-06-09
Detailed NEA-Scout entry in the Database
Full Nanosats Database (much more data)

NEA-Scout (Near Earth Asteroid Scout, NEA SCOUT)