Two additional secondary payloads that will travel to deep space on Artemis
I, the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion
spacecraft, are ready for launch.
The Team Miles and EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft (EQUULEUS)
CubeSats are tucked into dispensers and installed in the Orion stage adapter
– the ring that connects Orion to the SLS rocket. They are joining five
other secondary payloads that were recently installed. These small
satellites, known as CubeSats, will conduct a variety of science experiments
and technology demonstrations. The CubeSats will deploy after the Orion
spacecraft separates from SLS.
Developed by Miles Space in partnership with software developer Fluid &
Reason, LLC, the Team Miles CubeSat will travel to deep space to demonstrate
propulsion using plasma thrusters, a propulsion that uses low-frequency
electromagnetic waves. The CubeSat was developed as part of NASA’s Cube
Quest Challenge and sponsored by the agency’s Space Technology Mission
Directorate (STMD) Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program. The team,
composed of citizen scientists and engineers, came together through the
nonprofit Tampa Hackerspace in Florida to develop Team Miles. The group
considers itself a team of “makers,” who are open to trying technologies
that may fall outside of engineering norms.
Team Miles’ mission will be flown autonomously by a sophisticated onboard
computer system. In addition, the breadbox-sized spacecraft will use a
software-defined radio for communications with Earth. If successful, the
CubeSat will travel farther than this size of craft has ever gone – 59.6
million miles (96 million kilometers) – before ending the mission. (For
comparison, the minimum distance from Earth to Mars is around 34 million (54
million) kilometers.)
EQUULEUS, developed jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
and the University of Tokyo, will travel to Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2, an
Earth-Moon orbit where the gravitational pull of the Earth and Moon equal
the force required for a small object to move with them. The CubeSat will
demonstrate trajectory control techniques within the Sun-Earth-Moon region
and image Earth’s plasmasphere, a region of the atmosphere containing
electrons and highly ionized particles that rotate with the planet.
EQUULEUS will measure the distribution of the plasmasphere, providing
important insight for protecting humans and electronics from radiation
damage during long space journeys. The CubeSat will also measure meteor
impact flashes and the dust environment around the Moon, providing
additional important information for human exploration. EQUULEUS will be
powered by two deployable solar arrays and batteries, propelled by a warm
gas propulsion system with water as the propellant.
SLS will launch America into a new era of exploration to destinations beyond
Earth’s orbit and demonstrate the rocket’s heavy-lift capability. The agency
is taking advantage of additional available mass and space to provide the
rare opportunity to send several CubeSats to conduct science experiments and
technology demonstrations in deep space. All CubeSats are deployed after SLS
completes its primary mission, launching the Orion spacecraft on a
trajectory toward the Moon.
Source: Link
Tags:
Space & Astrophysics