PY4 Spacecraft - Nanosats Database

Satellite name	PY4
Form factor	CubeSat
Units or mass	3U
Organization	Carnegie Mellon University
Institution	University
Entity	Academic / Education
Country	US
Launch brokerer	Maverick
Oneliner	Test cost-efficient swarm capabilities – the ability for multiple spacecraft to communicate and perform coordinated actions.
Description	Test cost-efficient swarm capabilities – the ability for multiple spacecraft to communicate and perform coordinated actions. Led by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and funded by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, PY4 seeks to demonstrate spacecraft-to-spacecraft ranging, in-orbit navigation, and coordinated simultaneous multi-point radiation measurements at low size, weight, power, and cost. It uses a unique avionics platform called PyCubed that integrates power, computing, communications, attitude determination, and orbit control functionalities into a single board system. The PyCubed system is also open-source, programmable entirely in the Python programming language and uses affordable commercial off-the-shelf components. The spacecraft will periodically measure their relative distances. These range measurements provide information about the spacecrafts’ positions relative to each other, and when combined with other sensor data, can be used to determine the configuration of the swarm. Advancing these capabilities could decrease the workload for operators on the ground while enabling multi-spacecraft missions at an accessible price point. The PY4 platform was previously used in demonstrations of the V-R3x technology, both in orbit and in a suborbital flight test on a commercial high-altitude balloon with NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. Those initial tests helped researchers evaluate PY4’s functionality ahead of this larger demonstration mission.
Results	PY4 successfully exchanged ranging packets. PY4 demonstrated magnetorquer Sun Pointing. PY4 demonstrated magnetorquer initiated Spin Stabilization. To date, PY4 has successfully demonstrated high-data-rate mesh networking, precise inter-satellite ranging, range-based relative orbit determination, and magnetorquer-only sun pointing. A drag-based formation-flying experiment is also planned for an extended mission.
Sources	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Photo sources	[1] [2] [3]
Keywords	Globalstar or Iridium or Inmarsat

Related Spacecraft

Name	Status	Launcher	Date	Orbit
PY4 A (PY4 SV1, PY4-1)	Operational? (CubeSat Developers Workshop 2024 presentation as of May 2024 but last SatNOGS packets on 2024-07-03)	Falcon 9, (Transporter-10)	2024-03-04	510 km, 97.5 deg
PY4 B (PY4 SV2, PY4-2)	Reentry 2025-04-02. Was operational? (CubeSat Developers Workshop 2024 presentation as of May 2024 but last SatNOGS packets on 2024-05-12)	Falcon 9, (Transporter-10)	2024-03-04	510 km, 97.5 deg
PY4 C (PY4 SV3, PY4-3)	Operational? (CubeSat Developers Workshop 2024 presentation as of May 2024 but last SatNOGS packets on 2024-05-06)	Falcon 9, (Transporter-10)	2024-03-04	510 km, 97.5 deg
PY4 D (PY4 SV4, PY4-4)	Operational? (CubeSat Developers Workshop 2024 presentation as of May 2024 but last SatNOGS packets on 2024-06-08)	Falcon 9, (Transporter-10)	2024-03-04	510 km, 97.5 deg

Last modified: 2025-04-25