IRVINE02 is an educational 1U

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 ...

mission that gives high school students the experience of building, testing, and controlling a nano-satellite to develop interest and talent in the science and engineering fields. The mission features the second orbital ion electrospray thruster developed by Accion Systems. Beyond the thruster, IRVINE02 utilizes

magnetorquers A magnetorquer or magnetic torquer (also known as a torque rod) is a satellite system for attitude control, detumbling, and stabilization built from electromagnetic coils. The magnetorquer creates a magnetic dipole that interfaces with an ambient ma ...

, deployable solar arrays, a GPS unit, and a miniaturized 1.4 Watt blue laser communication module to transmit pictures and data back to Earth. The magnetorquers and the laser are both developed by the

Ecuadorian Space Agency The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (EXA; es, Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana) is a private Ecuadorian organization founded in 2007 that conducts research on space and planetary sciences. It is a non-profit non-governmental organization with ...

. This laser made IRVINE02 the first 1U cubesat to fly with an orbit-to-ground laser communications device. It transmits data and pictures to the Earth much faster than radio. IRVINE02 is the second CubeSat built by ICSP, the first being

IRVINE01 IRVINE01 was a 1U CubeSat built by the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program (ICSP), a team of six high schools from Irvine, California. IRVINE01 was an educational mission that gives high school students the experience of building, testing, and controlling ...

. On February 17, 2017,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

selected IRVINE02 to participate in NASA's eighth class of

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 ...

(ELaNa) CubeSat launch candidates. IRVINE02 launched on December 3, 2018 from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USS General Harry Taylor (AP-145), USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in K ...

on the Spaceflight Industries SSO-A: Smallsat Express mission aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...

rocket alongside 64 other spacecraft.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2018 Education in Irvine, California CubeSats Student satellites Spacecraft launched in 2018 Satellites of the United States 2018 in the United States

See also

References