Aerocube 3
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The Aerospace Corporation’s AeroCube-3 CubeSat picosatellite is a third-generation miniature satellite that is significantly more complex than its predecessors. It features several infrastructure improvements. The most important is a new solar power subsystem that replaces the subsystem that failed on AeroCube-2. The AeroCube-3 will demonstrate a two-axis sun sensor and an Earth sensor. These are important pieces of a future guidance, navigation and control system. AeroCube-3 incorporates a two-foot diameter semi-spherical (8-panel) balloon that can serve as a de-orbit device as well as a tracking aid. AeroCube-3 uses an inflation system similar to the one on AeroCube-2. The difference in orbit life (with and without a balloon) is estimated to be from 1-3 years (depending on atmosphere assumptions) without a balloon compared with 2-3 months with the balloon inflated. A VGA-resolution camera pointing in the direction of the balloon will photograph its state of inflation.
AeroCube-3 was built with funding from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Developmental Planning Directorate.
[edit] Payload characteristics
The AeroCube-3 mission consists of two phases. Phase A occurs with the AeroCube-3 tethered to the Orion 38 motor that is the upper stage for the TacSat-3 Minotaur launch vehicle. During this phase, AeroCube-3 will measure its dynamics while on the end of a 200’-long tether attached to a tumbling object (the upper stage). A VGA-resolution camera with a wide-angle field of view will attempt to photograph the upper stage on orbit. A tether reeling mechanism inside the picosatellite can close the distance by drawing in the tether (it operates by ground command). Phase B occurs when the tether is cut and AeroCube-3 becomes a free-flying CubeSat picosatellite. In this phase, permanent magnets and hysteresis material will align the satellite with Earth’s magnetic field. In this configuration, a sensor suite will sweep Earth’s surface and various experiments can be performed. AeroCube-3 will store sensor data until it passes over its ground station and the data is downloaded.
