SkyCube was an American

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. It was first announced on

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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 Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services companywhich builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools.The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit. Nanoracks's main office is in Houston, Tex ...

in late 2013, and launched aboard the

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flight at the

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on 9 January 2014. SkyCube was deployed from the

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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. It is one of several

crowdfunded satellites Crowdfunded satellites are artificial satellites that have been funded by using crowdfunding, rather than more traditional methods of financing. Several crowdfunded satellites have been launched in the 2010s, including SkyCube, KickSat, ArduSat, a ...

launched during the

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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 AX.25 (Amateur X.25) is a data link layer protocol originally derived from layer 2 of the X.25 protocol suite and designed for use by amateur radio operators. It is used extensively on amateur packet radio networks. AX.25 v2.0 and later occupies t ...

protocol at 9600 baud with BPSK modulation, with a callsign of WG9XMF.

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 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) granted a 90-day imaging license to SkyCube on 1 February 2013.

Balloon

SkyCube would have deployed a large () balloon at the end of its mission. The balloon was coated with reflective

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolubl ...

and made it visible from the ground. The balloon increased the

atmospheric drag In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

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. 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.

Technical specifications

Partnerships

SkyCube relied on several partners to provide necessary services:

References

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
{{Orbital launches in 2014 CubeSats Kickstarter-funded spacecraft Spacecraft launched in 2014 Spacecraft which reentered in 2014 Satellites deployed from the International Space Station Secondary payloads