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

NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
NEA-Scout
Satellite name NEA-Scout (Near Earth Asteroid Scout, NEA SCOUT)
Spacecraft 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)
Entity name NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Institution Space agency
Entity type Government (Civil / Military)
Country 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

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Created by Erik Kulu

Email: erik.kulu@nanosats.eu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikkulu

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