SkyCube

SkyCube
	SkyCube in undeployed state
Mission type	Earth imaging
Operator	Southern Stars
COSPAR ID	1998-067EN
SATCAT no.	39569
Mission duration	60–90 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	1U CubeSat
Manufacturer	Nanoracks
Launch mass	1.3 kg (2.9 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	9 January 2014, 18:07:05 UTC
Rocket	Antares 120
Launch site	MARS, LP-0A
Contractor	Orbital Sciences
Deployed from	International Space Station
Deployment date	28 February 2014
End of mission
Last contact	27 March 2014
Decay date	9 November 2014
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	408 km (254 mi)
Apogee altitude	414 km (257 mi)
Inclination	51.65°
Period	92.79 minutes

SkyCube was an American crowdsourced CubeSat. It was first announced on Kickstarter on 14 July 2012 and successfully funded on 12 September 2012, meeting its US$82,500 goal with a total of US$116,890. It was developed and built in 2012–2013, completed flight integration at Nanoracks in late 2013,^[2] and launched aboard the Cygnus CRS Orb-1 flight^[3] at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia on 9 January 2014. SkyCube was deployed from the International Space Station on 28 February 2014. Contact with the satellite was last made on 27 March 2014. SkyCube re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 9 November 2014.^[4] It is one of several crowdfunded satellites launched during the 2010s.^[5]

Mission

SkyCube had three major mission components: the broadcast of messages from its radio, the capture of pictures from space via its three cameras, and the deployment of a large balloon.

Messages

The SkyCube radio emitted periodic beaconing pings which contained 120-byte messages from the Kickstarter backers. These pings were transmitted at 915 MHz, using the AX.25 protocol at 9600 baud with BPSK modulation, with a callsign of WG9XMF.^[6]

Imaging

Using its three cameras, SkyCube intended to take pictures of the Earth from orbit. The cameras were VGA resolution and had lenses with three different fields of view (120°, 35°, and 6°), giving a variety of imaging possibilities. The images would have been transmitted back to Earth at 57.6 kbit/s. Kickstarter backers chose when the pictures were taken. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) granted a 90-day imaging license to SkyCube on 1 February 2013.^[7]

Balloon

SkyCube would have deployed a large (2 m (6 ft 7 in)) balloon at the end of its mission. The balloon was coated with reflective titanium dioxide and made it visible from the ground. The balloon increased the atmospheric drag on SkyCube, and within two weeks the orbit would have decayed enough for SkyCube to enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up safely. The inflation was intended to be triggered via 4-gram CO₂ canister.

Mission Failure

Several attempts were made to establish connection with the satellite, following its deployment. Initial attempts failed, but eventually basic telemetry was received, which indicated that at least one solar panel failed to deploy.^[8] However, subsequent communication attempts were made to send commands to the satellite, but none created a response. The fact that the satellite's orbit did not decay as quickly as those other CubeSats launched indicates that it experienced less drag, which also supports the conclusion that there was not a sufficient solar panel deployment.^[9]

Technical specifications

Dimensions	10 × 10 × 11.3 cm CubeSat standard
Interface specification	ISIPOD 1.4I
Mass	1.3 kg (2.9 lb)
Expected lifetime	60 – 90 days
Attitude control system	Passive magnotorquers
Power	9 total panels: one roof panel and 8 deployable panels. Each panel consists of 24 Spectrolab triangular cells wired in series-parallel for a nominal 12 V.
Batteries	2 x Li-ion 18650 cells, 8.4 V 2300 mAh, Molicell ICR18650J.
Power bus	3.3 V, 5 V regulated. Constant-current driver for solar panel deployment (Nichrome burn wires).
Primary downlink	915 MHz, AX.25 protocol, BPSK modulation, 57.6 kbit/s
Telemetry/messaging downlink	915 MHz, AX.25 protocol, BPSK modulation, 9.6 kbit/s
Command uplink	450 MHz, AX.25 protocol, FSK modulation, 9.6 kbit/s

Partnerships

SkyCube relied on several partners to provide necessary services:

Organization	Function
Naval Postgraduate School	Ground station services in North America and Hawaii^[10]
Saber Astronautics	Ground station and Mission Control services in Australia^[11]
Orbital Sciences	Launch provider
Nanoracks	Integrator^[2]
Astronautical Development, LLC	Radios and structural components

References

^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Nanoracks Completes Flight Integration of CubeSats Bound on Orb1 to the ISS". 15 November 2013.
^ "New Science Bound for Station on Orbital's Cygnus". 4 April 2015. Archived from the original on 6 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
^ "About Southern Stars". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^ Reyes, Matthew (7 April 2014). "DIY Satellites: Now and Near Future | Make". makezine.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
^ "FCC Experimental License for SkyCube". FCC. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "SkyCube Private Remote Sensing License: Public Summary" (PDF). NOAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Update 35: We Have Identified SkyCube · SkyCube: The First Satellite Launched by You!". Retrieved 2 April 2022.
^ "Update 37: Looking Back, Looking Forward · SkyCube: The First Satellite Launched by You!". Retrieved 2 April 2022.
^ "Mobile CubeSat Command and Control (MC3) Ground Stations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
^ "29 October 2013: Space Operations Deal Signed with Southern Stars". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
^ "SJ startup to launch crowdfunded satellite into space".

External links

SkyCube Satellite Technology at the website of Southern Stars (archived version on the Wayback Machine)
SkyCube: The First Satellite Launched by You! at Kickstarter
SkyCube Picture Album

[satcat-1] McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 3 May 2018.

[nanoracks-2] "Nanoracks Completes Flight Integration of CubeSats Bound on Orb1 to the ISS". 15 November 2013.

[3] "New Science Bound for Station on Orbital's Cygnus". 4 April 2015. Archived from the original on 6 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.

[4] "About Southern Stars". Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[5] Reyes, Matthew (7 April 2014). "DIY Satellites: Now and Near Future | Make". makezine.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.

[6] "FCC Experimental License for SkyCube". FCC. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[7] "SkyCube Private Remote Sensing License: Public Summary" (PDF). NOAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[8] "Update 35: We Have Identified SkyCube · SkyCube: The First Satellite Launched by You!". Retrieved 2 April 2022.

[9] "Update 37: Looking Back, Looking Forward · SkyCube: The First Satellite Launched by You!". Retrieved 2 April 2022.

[10] "Mobile CubeSat Command and Control (MC3) Ground Stations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.

[11] "29 October 2013: Space Operations Deal Signed with Southern Stars". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.

[12] "SJ startup to launch crowdfunded satellite into space".

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v t e ← 2013 Orbital launches in 2014 2015 →
January	GSAT-14 Thaicom 6 CRS Orb-1 (Flock-1 × 28, ArduSat-2, Lituanica SAT-1, LitSat-1, SkyCube, UAPSat-1) TDRS-L
February	Progress M-22M ABS-2, Athena-Fidus Türksat 4A USA-248 GPM Core, Ginrei, KSAT-2, INVADER, OPUSAT, STARS-II, TeikyoSat-3, ITF-1
March	Ekspress AT1, Ekspress AT2 Astra 5B, Amazonas 4A Kosmos 2494 Soyuz TMA-12M Shijian XI-06
April	USA-249 / DMSP-5D3 F19 Sentinel-1A IRNSS-1B Progress M-23M Ofek-10 USA-250 EgyptSat 2 SpaceX CRS-3 (KickSat) Luch 5V, KazSat-3
May	Kosmos 2495 Ekspress AM4R USA-251 USA-252 Kosmos 2496, Kosmos 2497, Kosmos 2498, Kosmos 2499 ALOS-2, Raijin-2, UNIFORM-1, SOCRATES, SPROUT Eutelsat 3B Soyuz TMA-13M
June	Kosmos 2500 / GLONASS-M 755 AprizeSat 9, AprizeSat 10, BRITE-Montreal, BRITE-Toronto, BugSat 1, Deimos-2, Hodoyoshi 3, Hodoyoshi 4, KazEOSat 2, Perseus-M1, Perseus-M2, SaudiSat-4, TabletSat-Aurora, UniSat-6 (Lemur-1, Tigrisat), Flock-1c × 11 SPOT 7, CanX-4, CanX-5
July	OCO-2 Gonets-M × 3 Meteor-M No.2 O3b × 4 CRS Orb-2 (Flock-1b × 28, TechEdSat-4) Orbcomm-OG2 × 6 Foton-M No.4 Progress M-24M USA-253 / GSSAP 1, USA-254 / GSSAP 2, USA-255 / ANGELS Georges Lemaître ATV
August	USA-256 AsiaSat 8 Yaogan 20 A, B, C WorldView-3 Gaofen 2, Heweliusz Galileo FOC-1, Galileo FOC-2
September	Chuangxin 1-04, Lingqiao AsiaSat 6 Yaogan 21, Tiantuo 2 MEASAT 3b, Optus 10 USA-257 SpaceX CRS-4 Soyuz TMA-14M Olimp-K Shijian XI-07
October	Himawari 8 IRNSS-1C ARSAT-1, Intelsat 30 Yaogan 22 Ekspress AM6 Chang'e 5-T1, 4M Shijian 11-08 Cygnus CRS Orb-3† (Arkyd-3†, Flock-1d × 26†) Progress M-25M USA-258 / GPS IIF 8 Meridian 7
November	Sasuke, Hodoyoshi 1, Kinshachi 1, Tsukushi, TSUBAME Yaogan 23 Yaogan 24 Kuaizhou 2 Soyuz TMA-15M Kosmos 2501
December	Hayabusa2, PROCYON, Shinen 2, DESPATCH Orion EFT-1 DirecTV-14, GSAT-16 CBERS-4 Yaogan 25 A, B, C USA-259 Yamal-401 O3b × 4 (FM9 to FM12) Kondor-E No.2 IPM Kosmos 2502 Resurs-P No.2 Yaogan 26 Astra 2G Fengyun 2-08
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).