Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Thinking inside the box, launching into space
Two tiny, cube-shaped research satellites hitched a
ride to Earth orbit to validate new hardware and software technologies for future NASA Earth-observing instruments.
The cube satellites, or “CubeSats,” which typically
have a volume of exactly 1 liter, were launched on a
United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the night of
Dec. 5, 2013 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force
Base as part of the NROL-39 GEMSat mission. Led by
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
and developed with university and industry partners,
these two CubeSats will help enable near-real-time
processing capabilities relevant to future climate science measurements.
One of the CubeSats that launched was developed
in collaboration with California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is called the Intelligent
Payload Experiment, or IPEX. It enables imagery to be
transmitted more rapidly from satellite missions back
to Earth. By using new software and algorithms, the
spacecraft can sift through the data, looking only for
the most important images that the scientists urgently
need on the ground. This method is designed to speed
delivery time of critical data products from days to minutes.
“IPEX will demonstrate software that will enable future NASA missions to recognize science events such
as flooding, volcanism and wildfires, and respond by
sending alerts and autonomously acquiring follow-up
imagery,” said Steve Chien of JPL, principal investigator for the IPEX mission.
The other CubeSat launched is the Michigan Multipurpose Mini-satellite/CubeSat On-board processing
Validation Experiment, or M-Cubed/COVE.
M-Cubed, developed in partnership with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will image Earth. The COVE
payload will use these data to validate an instrument
image data processing algorithm that will greatly reduce the science data transmission rate required for
on-orbit operations.
“The COVE payload will advance processor and
algorithm technology designed for use in a future science instrument to characterize properties of aerosols
and clouds, which will help our understanding of global
climate change,” said Paula Pingree of JPL, principal
investigator of the MCubed/COVE-2 mission.
These technology validation missions are sponsored
by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office. They are
designed to satisfy their science objectives within six
months, but will remain in Earth orbit for many years.
For additional information on NASA’s CubeSat
Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/
nXOuPI .
The NROL-39 GEMSat mission, carrying two cube satellites,
launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a
Photo: Pat Corkery/ULA
United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.