RaInCube, also stylized as RainCube, was a 6U

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. CubeSat ...

made by

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, succeedi ...

as an experimental satellite. It had a small radar and an antenna. It was put into orbit in May 2018 and was deployed from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

on June 25, 2018. It re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up on Dec. 24, 2020. It was used to track large storms.

Mission objectives

RainCube's mission objectives were to: * Demonstrate low-cost

Ka band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centime ...

radar technology, with a vertical resolution of 250m and a horizontal resolution of at least 10 km. Its radar sensitivity should also be better than 20dBZ. * Use Ka-band radar from a 6U CubeSat * Profiling

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hai ...

falling on Earth

Launch and deployment

Orbital ATK CRS-9 Launch (NHQ201805210003)

RaInCube was launched as part of the

Cygnus OA-9E OA-9E was the tenth flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its ninth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS contract) with NASA. The mission launched on 21 May 201 ...

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarde ...

mission on board an

Antares 230 Development The NASA COTS award was for and Orbital Sciences expected to invest an additional $150 million, split between $130 million for the booster and $20 million for the spacecraft. A Commercial Resupply Service contract of $1.9 bil ...

rocket on May 21, 2018, at Wallops Pad 0A. The Cygnus spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on May 24, 2018, three days later. RaInCube was finally deployed from the International Space Station on July 13, 2018.

Gallery

File:RainCube spacecraft.jpg, Render of RaInCube File:CubeSat RainCube flightsystem.jpg, RaInCube on Earth File:CubeSat RainCube radar.jpg, RaInCube's interior File:Secondary antennas4.gif, RaInCube's antenna opening

References

External links

{{Portal bar, Spaceflight Satellites deployed from the International Space Station CubeSats 2018 in spaceflight Spacecraft launched in 2018 Spacecraft which reentered in 2020 Technology demonstration satellites NASA satellites Satellites of the United States