100 days in Space!

The QB50 CubeSats deployed in May from the ISS are currently celebrating their first 100 days in Space.
Among the 28 CubeSats deployed from the ISS, 8 were initially thought to be dead on arrival. From them, 3 were finally brought back to life thanks to the radio amateur community. After a few days, an additional one went silent.

For most of the 22 "survivors", commissioning has proven to be challenging. 14 CubeSats are in the process of platform commissioning at various stages. 7 CubeSats are progressing in the sensor unit commissioning, and 1 is already producing valuable science data on a daily basis.

Among the 8 QB50 CubeSats launched by a PSLV rocket in late June, 1 has never been heard. 3 are progressing with the platform commissioning and 3 are commissioning the sensor unit. One IOD CubeSat has already successfully completed its mission: InflateSail deployed a dragsail and is expected to reenter in the atmosphere in the coming days.

Deployment of the QB50 constellation completed

Successful launch of a world premiere bringing together 23 countries: QB50 on its way to the ISS

The objective of the European project QB50 is to design and to deploy in space a network of miniaturized satellites to study the lower layers of the thermosphere. Funded by the European Union, the project implements an international Consortium led by the von Karman Institute (VKI). The first of the two rockets that will take the QB50 constellation in space lifted off with success early on Tuesday (11.11 a.m. Cape Canaveral, 5.11 p.m. Brussels).

A large portion of the QB50 constellation (28 out of 36 CubeSats) lifted off at 5.11 p.m. GMT on Tuesday April 18th (11.11 a.m. EST, USA) from the launch Pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida. In the next days, the spacecraft will dock with the international Space Station, the 28 CubeSats should be deployed end of April. A second launch is foreseen in May with the remaining 8 CubeSats.

The CubeSats are fully functional miniaturized satellites made up of double or triple cubic units (10x10x10cm). CubeSats have a mass less than 1.33 kilograms per unit and use off-the-shelf electronic components. The nano-satellites have been designed to facilitate access to space research at lower cost.

This project represents a unique collaboration between universities and research institutes from 23 countries around the world. The project, coordinated by an international Consortium, receives funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development*. QB50 has the objectives that include facilitating access to space for universities and research centers, performing measurements in the thermosphere, demonstrating new technologies in orbit and promoting space collaboration and science education. The QB50 CubeSats have been designed and built by a large number of young engineers, supervised by experienced staff at their universities and guided by the QB50 project through reviews and feedbacks.

The QB50 mission is a world premiere. The project is the first attempt to provide multi-point measurements of the upper layers of the atmosphere, the mid-lower thermosphere, located between 200km and 400 km altitude, through a constellation of CubeSats. This area of the thermosphere is the least explored mainly because it is difficult or risky to reach. It is too high in altitude to be reached by ground radar and small rockets and it is too low for satellites. In fact, this area is important to accurately determine the reentry trajectory of a spacecraft.

After deployment, the CubeSats of the QB50 constellation will initiate their long descent. While orbiting around the Earth several times a day, the CubeSats will take a large number of measurements of the gaseous molecules and electrical properties of the thermosphere. The data will be centralized by the von Karman Institute and will serve to better understand the relation between the Earth’s atmosphere and the Sun radiation. The results generated by the constellation will be used to validate and enhance forecasting models and improve our understanding of the physical processes taking part in the thermosphere. The CubeSats flying in the thermosphere will have a very short lifetime, between 1 to 2 years, before completely burning up in the atmosphere.

“This project is the very first international real-time coordinated study of the thermosphere phenomena. The data generated by the constellation will be unique in many ways and they will be used for many years by scientists around the world”, stresses Dr. Davide Masutti, QB50 project manager at the von Karman Institute.

*This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development under grant agreement no [284427]. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

QB50-ISS CubeSats ready to be launched

By Davide Masutti

Brussels, Belgium – Two weeks ago the launch preparation activities managed by VKI/ISIS/NanoRacks were successfully concluded at Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. facilities. Twenty-eight (28) CubeSats of the QB50 constellation were integrated into eleven (11) NanoRacks 6U deployers. After a formal handover of the hardware to NanoRacks LLC, the CubeSats and the deployers were shipped to NanoRacks’s facilities in Houston (US). Today the hardware has been cleared out at the US customs and then it will be transported to the cleanroom of NanoRacks. In a window of time between Dec 19^th 2016 to Jan 9^th 2017 all deployers will be finally delivered to Lockheed Martin which is responsible for the Cargo Mission Contract (CMC).

From there on, Lockheed Martin will be in charge of loading the deployers into the Cygnus CRS OA-7 Cargo for a launch atop an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 on March 16^th 2017 (date/time to be confirmed).

Additional CubeSats for the ISS

Additional three (3) CubeSats are making their way to Houston following different routes from Russia, India and California. These CubeSats will be then integrated into a single deployer directly by NanoRacks in their facilities.

When the CubeSats will be deployed into space?

The configuration of the deployment from the ISS has been defined during the integration campaign. The CubeSats will be deployed from the ISS into two consecutive airlock cycles separated by 60 days (exact dates to be confirmed by NASA according to the ISS crew schedule). The configuration of the deployment sequence with the correspondent sensor unit is given in the table below.

Contact

To learn more about the launch campaign and the next steps, please contact

Dr. Davide Masutti, QB50 Project Manager

Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Chaussée de Waterloo, 72

B-1640 Rhode-Saint-Genése, Belgium

Office: +32-2-359-9658

masutti@vki.ac.be

Presentation in French

picture credientials ISL BV, NL

Contact
VKI: Christelle Debeer - VKI Press Spokesperson, debeer@vki.ac.be
Jan Thoemel – QB50 Project Manager, jan.thoemel@vki.ac.be
ISIS: Jeroen Rotteveel – ISIS CEO, J.Rotteveel@isispace.nl
Joost Elstak – QB50 Precursor Mission Project Manager, J.Elstak@isispace.nl

The following payloads were integrated into the ISIS satellite platforms:

QB50p1

• INMS Payload from MSSL, UK
• QB50 ADCS system from SSC, UK
• Thermocouple experiment from VKI, Belgium
• AMSAT-NL transponder from AMSAT-NL, The Netherlands

QB50p2

• FIPEX Payload, University of Dresden, Germany
• QB50 ADCS system from SSC, UK
• Thermocouple experiment from VKI, Belgium
• AMSAT-Fr transponder from AMSAT Francophone, France

The project was executed to an unprecedented timeline. Formal Kick-Off was in October 2013 and all hardware from the different partners was delivered for integration into the satellites in January 2014. This means that two satellites were delivered in just over 6 months. Furthermore, with a precursor launch scheduled in June, launch and operations will commence within 9 months of project Kick-Off.
This fast-track project shows how successful a close cooperation between academic institutes and experienced companies can be. With ISIS’ experienced team of engineers that design and build nanosatellites on a regular basis (ISIS remains on track to delivering 1 satellite system per month in 2014), throughput times of nanosatellite projects can be shortened significantly.
The upcoming launch of the QB50 precursor satellites will also be the first satellites to be launched that were funded through the EU’s FP7 space technology programme, in which a number of innovative small satellites will be launched in the coming years to demonstrate new European space technologies.
The lessons learned from the QB50 Precursor development and operations have already led to many recommendations to further improve and streamline the QB50 main flight. All teams involved in QB50 stand to benefit from the experiences gained over the last months.
About QB50: www.qb50.eu

VKI: Christelle Debeer - Communication - debeer@vki.ac.be / Jan Thoemel – QB50 Project Manager - jan.thoemel@vki.ac.be
ISIS: Jeroen Rotteveel – ISIS CEO - J.Rotteveel@isispace.nl / Joost Elstak – QB50 Precursor Mission Project Manager - J.Elstak@isispace.nl