Cosmic X-ray Background Nanosatellite (CXBN) was a satellite and mission developed by the Morehead State University. Unlike its successor, it was a partial failure as its transmissions were too weak for its mission due to it going into an anomalous low power mode. It was supposed to take measurements of the

cosmic X-ray background The observed X-ray background is thought to result from, at the "soft" end (below 0.3 keV), galactic X-ray emission, the "galactic" X-ray background, and, at the "hard" end (above 0.3keV), from a combination of many unresolved X-ray sources outsid ...

in the 30-50 keV range and temporarily supplement NASA's

Radiation Belt Storm Probes The Van Allen Probes, formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), were two robotic spacecraft that were used to study the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. NASA conducted the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the L ...

Objectives

CXBN was created as a low-cost CubeSat platform to observe the extragalactic cosmic X-ray background and take improved measurements. It had a new gamma ray detector system with its CZT array, which would have potentially provided insight into the early universe's physics.

Design

The CXBN CubeSat occupied a volume of when in its compact form. It had four deployable solar panels. Morehead State University (MSU) engineered its subsystems, while the CZT detector was designed by the University of California at Berkeley and

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

. It also contained Sun sensors for its spin stabilization.

Instruments

CXBN contained a Cadmium Zinc Telluride array to allow for the mapping of the cosmic X-ray background.

Launch and mission

CXBN was launched on along with several other nanosatellites as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program on an Atlas V 401 rocket. It was also the 35th launch of the NROL program with a main satellite payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. MSU provided support for ground operations with its 21m Space Tracking Antenna. CXBN decayed from orbit and re-entered the atmosphere in . It did not complete its science mission due to an anomaly causing it to go to low power mode. The

signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in deci ...

was too low, preventing the ground station from collecting enough data.

Notes

References

{{Morehead State University 2012 in spaceflight CubeSats Morehead State University