Cosmic X-ray Background Nanosatellite (CXBN) was a satellite and mission developed by the

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ...

. 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 in the 30-50

keV Kev can refer to: Given name * Kev Adams, French comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer born Kevin Smadja in 1991 * Kevin Kev Carmody (born 1946), Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter * Kev Coghlan (born 1988), Scottish Grand Prix moto ...

range and temporarily supplement

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

's Radiation Belt Storm Probes.

Objectives

CXBN was created as a low-cost

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

platform to observe the extragalactic cosmic X-ray background and take improved measurements. It had a new

gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 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 Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) is an initiative created by NASA to attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The program is managed by the Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA ...

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 The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. fe ...

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

Notes

References

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