Американские малые КА

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/39459planet-labs-cubesats-deployed-from-iss-with-many-more-to-follow

Planet Labs Cubesats Deployed from ISS with Many More To Follow
By Debra Werner | Feb. 11, 2014

The image of a Planet Labs cubesat being released from the station can be seen in the lower right-hand corner. Credit: NASA photo

SAN FRANCISCO — Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata sent four Earth imaging cubesats built by San Francisco-based Planet Labs out of the international space station's Kibo module in what is expected to become a steady stream of miniature satellites ejected from the orbiting outpost.

The four satellites launched Feb. 11 are destined for Planet Labs' 28-spacecraft Flock-1 Earth observing constellation. With help from NanoRacks LLC, the Houston-based space services provider that arranged flights for the satellites to the space station on Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus cargo mission in January and helped pave the way for their recent launch through the Japanese module, Planets Labs plans to deploy the entire constellation within weeks.

 Since NASA published images in October 2012 of the first five cubesats launched from the international space station, cubesats developers in industry and academia have expressed keen interest in traveling the same path into orbit. While some scientists are reluctant to fly from the space station, saying an altitude of 400 kilometers is too low, many other cubesat builders are eager to reach orbit as quickly as possible.

Planet Labs @planetlabs
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The first of our Flock 1 take to space from ISS at 12:15 am. We're already feeling the empty nest. Watch live here: http://m.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream ...
6:39 AM - 11 Feb 2014

"Without an on-board propulsion system, the [satellites' lives] will be fairly limited," said Chris Boshuizen, Planet Labs chief technology officer. "Our [business] model is based on our ability to mass-produce satellites. Instead of building a more sophisticated satellite with a 10-year lifetime, we chose to build a much simpler spacecraft with a design life of a couple of years and replenish the constellation."

Cubesat missions seeking rides into space as secondary payload often wait years. In contrast, NanoRacks can send small satellites to the space station on U.S., Russian or Japanese launch vehicles in nine months on average, said NanoRacks Managing Director Jeffrey Manber. NanoRacks has signed contracts to launch more 50 cubesats from the space station and memoranda of understanding for 100 more, Manber said. "We're booked for cubesat launches for the next couple of years," Manber said.

Jason Dunne, co-founder of Made in Space, the company preparing to send a 3D printer to the international space station later this year, said the orbiting outpost may become Grand Central Station for cubesat launches. Made in Space is working with NASA to determine whether cubesats also could be built on the orbiting outpost using additive manufacturing.

To meet the demand for cubesat launches from the space station, NanoRacks invested its own money in developing a commercial cubesat deployment system designed to hold six of the small spacecraft. The NanoRacks deployers can be stacked in a manner that enables eight of them, for a total of 48 cubesats, to fit on a single pallet aboard Kibo, also known as the Japanese Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform. With the help of the Japanese slide table and robotic arm, astronauts can launch the cubesats in groups of approximately six every one to two orbits to prevent collisions.

Comments: werner.debra@gmail.com

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/article/financial-report/41532small-satellite-entrepreneurs-suppliers-part-ways-on-pricing

Small-satellite Entrepreneurs, Suppliers Part Ways on Pricing  
By Debra Werner | Aug. 8, 2014

Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne. Credit: Virgin Galactic artist's concept

LOGAN, Utah — The small-satellite industry is transforming as suppliers who previously focused on providing products and services for individual spacecraft look for ways to profit from the growing number of constellations. There is a mismatch, however, between what many traditional firms are offering and what the entrepreneurs establishing large cubesat constellations are seeking to buy. 
"The prices are way too high," said an entrepreneur attending the annual Small Satellite Conference Aug. 2-7 at Utah State University here. "We would be willing to buy parts but not at these prices."
Like Space Exploration Technologies Corp., many of the new space entrepreneurs are building their own spaceflight hardware or using commercially available parts to reduce the cost of individual items and gain the flexibility to quickly adopt new technology. Planet Labs, the San Francisco-based firm building a 100-spacecraft Earth imaging constellation to provide daily global coverage, revises its cubesat design every eight to 10 weeks, said Chris Boshuizen, the firm's chief technology officer.
Steve Jurvetson, managing director of DFJ, the Menlo Park, California-based venture capital firm that backed SpaceX and Planet Labs, lauds that approach, which he refers to as "agile aerospace." "It is increasingly possible for an entrepreneurial company to innovate, iterate and run circles around its competition," Jurvetson said during the conference keynote speech. That is the type of company that will attract investors, he added. 
Venture capital is pouring into some small-satellite startups. In October, Dauria Aerospace of Mountain View, California, and Skolkovo, Russia, announced a $20 million investment from I2BF Global Ventures. Planet Labs raised $52 million in a capital campaign led by Yuri Milner that concluded in December. Spire, the San Francisco-based company previously known as NanoSatisfi, announced July 29 that RRE Ventures helped it raised $25 million. 
In spite of their financial wherewithal, many of the entrepreneurs who plan to sell images or data captured in space to cost-conscious commercial customers say they need to keep hardware, software and operation expenses as low as possible. That business model presents significant challenges for some traditional satellite suppliers who structured their businesses around the need to meet the unique requirements of small satellites built for U.S. government agencies and universities.
While commercial customers purchased less than 10 percent of the satellites weighing 1 to 50 kilograms from 2009 to 2013, those customers are likely to dominate the business from 2014 to 2016, according to a market analysis performed by Atlanta-based SpaceWorks Enterprises Inc. That trend is likely to continue with commercial firms outspending government agencies and academic institutions, said Elizabeth Buchen, director of SpaceWorks' engineering economics group. 
"This huge influx of commercial niche missions providing Earth observation, targeted communications or Internet access through satellite networks is an entirely new business model," said Robert Meurer, business development vice president for ATK Space Systems. "The space industry was dominated by the government for a long time. Commercial customers can easily outspend and outgrow the government over time."
SpaceWorks notes a flurry of activity by companies building and launching satellites weighing 1 to 50 kilograms. The firm expects 140 spacecraft of that size to launch in 2014 compared with 92 in 2013. Steady growth of the market will lead to a total of 2,000 to 2,750 small spacecraft seeking launches from 2014 through 2020, Buchen said. 
It is not yet clear how those satellites will reach orbit. "Access to space remains quite a challenge," Meurer said. Many firms have announced plans to develop new launch vehicles to meet the needs of this growing market, including Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne, Generation Orbit's GOLauncher 2, Interorbital Systems' Neptune, Rocket Lab's Electron, Garvey Spacecraft Corp.'s Nanosat Launch Vehicle and XCOR Aerospace's Lynx Mark 3. None of the new rockets is operational. Whoever succeeds in offering space access at a reasonable cost "will receive a very warm reception because there will be any number of payloads waiting to go," Meurer said. 
This year, 1,400 people attended the Small Satellite Conference, which began 28 years ago with 400 attendees. Longtime conference participants were thrilled by the growth of their industry and enthusiastic about the potential for small satellites wielding increasingly capable sensors to improve weather prediction on Earth and in space, bolster agricultural yields and extend communication services globally.
"We have talked about the market developing for small satellites since the first conference," Meurer said. "Year after year, we waited for this groundswell, which we are now seeing. It's very satisfying."

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/article/civil-space/41549cubesats-driving-big-developments-in-small-propulsion-systems

Cubesats Driving Big Developments in Small Propulsion Systems  
By Debra Werner | Aug. 11, 2014  

NASA is exploring a wide range of propulsion technologies to enable cubesats to change altitude, conduct proximity operations, disperse and form arrays, including cold gas, monopropellant, liquefied gas, solid rocket, Hall effect (a 6 kilowatt Hall-effect thruster) and electrospray thrusters. Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory photo
 
LOGAN, Utah — As cubesats prove their ability to capture imagery and gather scientific data, developers are eager to send the miniature spacecraft on increasingly complex missions, many of which require propulsion.
"With any satellite there's a lot of mission capability you can get when you're able to maneuver," said Andrew Petro, NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program executive. "We are trying to do more things with these satellites and that requires mobility."
NASA is exploring a wide range of propulsion technologies to enable cubesats to change altitude, conduct proximity operations, disperse and form arrays, including cold gas, monopropellant, liquefied gas, solid rocket, Hall effect and electrospray thrusters. "We want to cast a wide net," Petro said. "We are not looking for one solution, but for a whole set of solutions."
NASA's Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration, slated for launch in 2015 as part of NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative, is to use cold gas thrusters to enable two 1.5-unit cubesats to maneuver and operate to within 200 meters of each other. NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program has earmarked about $3.5 million over two years for the project led by the Aerospace Corp. of El Segundo, California. 
The Small Spacecraft Technology Program is providing approximately $13.5 million over three years for a related effort, Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration. For that mission, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, is developing two three-unit cubesats to rendezvous, conduct proximity operations and dock with one another with the help of cold gas propulsion. 
Aerojet Rocketdyne is developing liquid propulsion systems for cubesats, including MPS-100 Cubesat High-impulse Adaptable Modular Propulsion System (CHAMPS), a miniature hydrazine thruster designed to provide a change in velocity of more than 200 meters per second, and MPS-120 CHAMPS, a version that uses additive manufacturing to produce the piston propellant tank and miniature isolation system.
In August 2013, NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program sel ected MPS-120 as one of 10 payloads for space agency-supported development. Through the project, Aerojet plans to conduct the first flight of that hydrazine-fueled engine, which it produced with additive manufacturing. "All the plumbing and a lot of the features are printed right into the tank," said Christian Carpenter, MPS-120 principal investigator for Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington. "This will not only be the first test of a liquid system at this size scale but also the first test of a 3-D printed liquid system and pressurized tank." 
The MPS-120 project is designed to demonstrate that hydrazine can be safely handled and stored on cubesats. "Just like large satellites, cubesats eventually will fly pressurized systems with liquid propellants," Carpenter said.
Busek Co. Inc. plans to demonstrate the use of an iodine-fueled Hall effect thruster on Iodine Satellite, a 12-unit cubesat scheduled for launch in 2017 by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "The advantages of iodine is that it has three times the propulsive energy per liter as xenon," Dan Williams, Busek business development director, said by email. In addition, Busek is developing propulsion systems based on electrospray, micro-RF ion, ammonia-fueled micro-resistojet, green monopropellant and micro-pulsed plasma thrusters.
In the past, cubesats did not include onboard propulsion because it would disqualify them from piggybacking on government flights. Now, some cubesat developers are obtaining waivers fr om those rules, allowing them to begin to experiment with miniature propulsion systems. "We are very interested in finding less-hazardous propulsion systems because if you are trying to fly as a secondary, you may be very limited in what the primary mission will allow you to carry," Petro said. "Keeping the propulsion safe and simple is especially valuable when you've got a low-cost project to begin with and you want to keep it that way."

[Ded]

И что?

[Salo]

Smartphone Advances Drive Smallsats
Developments in consumer electronics are shaping fast small-satellite production
http://aviationweek.com/space/smartphone-advances-drive-smallsats

[Salo]

Ded пишет:
И что?

А ничо.

[Salo]

http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/2014/10/quantum-kestrel-eye.html

Army taps Quantum Research to build imaging nano-satellites for front-line warfighters
October 2, 2014
By John Keller Editor


PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., 2 Oct. 2014. U.S. Army strategic reconnaissance experts needed an imaging satellite company to build small satellites to provide deployed warfighters with real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery. They found their solution from Quantum Research International, Inc. in Huntsville, Ala.
Officials of the Army Strategic Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., announced their intention this week to award a contract worth about $8.5 million to Quantum Research to build and demonstrate Kestrel Eye satellite technology and ground-control equipment.
The Kestrel Eye Visible Imagery Nanosatellite Technology Demonstration program seeks to develop a small, low-cost, visible imagery satellite demonstrator that offers Army warfighters with on-demand real-time satellite imagery.
Related: Raytheon to help develop small satellites to give persistent-surveillance data to the front lines
The Kestrel Eye electro-optical nano-satellite will be able to produce images of 1.5-meter resolution that can be downlinked to front-line warfighters. The idea is to demonstrate a tactical nanosat that could be built in large numbers to provide persistent-surveillance capability to ground forces.
Army officials would like the capability to produce high-resolution satellite images and downlink them to front-line warfighters within 10 minutes.
The Kestrel Eye program will extend the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) paradigm into space, Army officials say. The eventual goal is to provide persistent coverage to every soldier on a hand-held device about the size of today's GPS receivers. The idea is to enable soldiers to click on any point of the ground displayed on a world map and call up real-time imagery of the area.
Related: Aerospace and defense firms advance the state of the art in acquiring, processing, and exploiting crucial still imagery and full-motion video
The upcoming contract to Quantum Research will ask the company to complete Kestrel Eye satellites that are under development, and provide satellite demonstration and support.
The Kestrel Eye reconnaissance satellite program is part of a larger initiative called Concepts and Operations for Space and Missile Defense Integration and Capabilities (COSMIC), which Quantum Research and BAE Systems are contractors.
More information on the Kestrel Eye program and the upcoming contract to quantum Research is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/92289bec2f10558f90130a7815da3797.
For additional information contact Quantum Research International online at www.quantum-intl.com, or the Army Strategic Command at www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/smdc.

[Salo]

http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=44167

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Progress on CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration
Press Release Source: Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems
Posted Sunday, October 12, 2014
               
Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., the industry leader in nano-satellites and turnkey SmallSat solutions, today announced that it successfully completed the development of the Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) vehicles and has officially received the approval to continue into the Vehicle Assembly Integration and Testing (AI&T) Phase.
The Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations and docking using two three-unit (3U) cubesats. This mission will validate and characterize several miniature, low-power avionics technologies applicable to future NASA projects. The CPOD project is led by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. of Irvine, California with funding from NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program.
After undergoing multiple rigorous program reviews, the management team of the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., determined that the Tyvak's team is actively retiring all the foreseeable risks and is demonstrating the required technical and programmatic capabilities to successfully complete this phase of the project. SSTP managers also recognized that with Tyvak's continued success, the team will be in an excellent position to proceed with the final phase of the project leading to the on-orbit operations.
"We are grateful for the support and trust that NASA has given us throughout the project's development." said Dr. Marco Villa, Tyvak's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Tyvak has established itself as a leader in the NanoSatellite segment by recognition of its advanced technical capabilities," Dr. Villa added, "but it is great to also be acknowledged for our attentiveness and diligence towards program management and mission assurance. Surely this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for our outstanding engineering team and our invaluable partners 406 Aerospace, Applied Defense Solutions, and VACCO Industries. "
With responsibility over the entire mission, from subsystems' design to operations, Tyvak announced to be still on-track with the original schedule, and to expect a full vehicle integrated by the end of the year with Flight Readiness Review as early as May 2015.

Спойлер

For more information about CPOD, go to http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/cpod_project.html.
About Tyvak: Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. provides turnkey solutions for SmallSat customers, from innovations to operations, making space research and utilization more accessible today than it has ever been. Tyvak can handle all your satellite needs from design and build, to test, launch and operations. With decades of experience in all sectors of the industry, the Tyvak team is unmatched in the small satellite industry. Engineers work with clients to shrink payload specifications, enabling more cost-effective development and transport to orbit. Tyvak systems are adaptable, have low power consumption and are easily customizable to support multiple applications. For more information, go to www.tyvak.com.
The Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations and docking using two three-unit (3U) cubesats. This mission will validate and characterize several miniature, low-power avionics technologies applicable to future NASA projects. The CPOD project is led by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, LLC of Irvine, California with funding from NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program. The three-year project was initiated in November 2012.
Each of the satellites has dimensions of 10 by 10 by 33 centimeters and has a mass of about 5 kilograms. The satellites also have deployable solar panels.
CPOD will demonstrate the ability of two small spacecraft to remain at determined points relative to each other (called station-keeping) as well as precision circumnavigation and docking using imaging sensors and a multi-thruster cold gas propulsion system. Docking will employ a novel universal docking mechanism. 
The ability of satellites to operate in close proximity to each other is an important capability to enable on-orbit inspection and servicing of satellites and to allow multiple satellites to operate together in space and even join to form a larger spacecraft or orbiting systems. This capability would also apply to a spacecraft maneuvering near an asteroid or other body on a science or exploration mission. Building these capabilities into very small spacecraft is an especially difficult challenge and advancement in this field will make some complex space missions more affordable.
After launch, the two cubesats will be released simultaneously into a common orbit and undergo checkout to ensure proper operation and maneuvering capability. Each satellite will use its space-to-ground data link to transmit visual images of the other satellite. An inter-satellite link will share GPS and other data between the two spacecraft. Many of the proximity operations test scenarios will be performed autonomously using on-board processors and flight software for guidance, navigation and control.
Using on-board navigation systems, one cubesat will perform a series of circumnavigation maneuvers relative to the second cubesat in order to validate and characterize the sensor systems. After completing these maneuvers the two spacecraft will approach and dock using a unique mechanism to join the satellites together. Several docking maneuvers may be attempted during the mission.
The CPOD mission was selected for a flight opportunity as part of the NASA Cubesat Launch Initiative. The two CPOD spacecraft will be launched to low Earth orbit and deployed on a rideshare mission arranged by the Launch Services Program. The satellites are expected to be ready to launch in 2015.
Partners with Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems on the CPOD project include Applied Defense Solutions Inc. of Columbia, Maryland, 406 Aerospace LLC of Bozeman, Montana, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

[свернуть]

[Александр Ч.]

Elon Musk
SpaceX is still in the early stages of developing advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations. Announcement in 2 to 3 months.

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/smallsat-developer-spire-entering-commercial-weather-biz/

Smallsat Developer Spire To Enter Commercial Weather Market
by Jeff Foust — January 29, 2015

Spire, which describes itself as "a satellite-powered data company," says its set to begin deploying a constellation of cubesat-based satellites later this year. Credit: Spire image
 
WASHINGTON — A San Francisco-based developer of nanosatellites announced Jan. 29 that it plans to start deploying a constellation of spacecraft by the end of this year to collect weather data for government and commercial customers.
Spire said that it believes its constellation of cubesat-class satellites, which will eventually exceed 100 spacecraft, will provide data that will greatly improve the accuracy of weather forecasts.
"We are right now with weather forecasting where we were with finding directions 10 years ago," said Spire chief executive officer Peter Platzer in a Jan. 27 interview. Just as online mapping services made getting directions easier and more reliable, he said he hopes his satellites' data will do the same for weather.
 
Spire plans to use "3U" cubesats to provide the weather data. Credit: Spire

Spire plans to provide this data by measuring signals from GPS satellites as those signals pass through the atmosphere. This technique, known as GPS radio occultation, provides profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity in the atmosphere that can be incorporated into weather forecasting models.
"GPS radio occultation is the bread-and-butter of short-term weather forecasting," Platzer said.
The company is not the first to consider using GPS radio occultation to provide weather data. A satellite system called the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC), jointly developed and operated by the United States and Taiwan, currently provides GPS radio occultation data, with a follow-on system, COSMIC-2, under development. Other companies, including GeoOptics and PlanetiQ, have also proposed satellite systems to provide this data commercially.
Spire plans to use "3U" cubesats, measuring about 30 centimeters long and weighing a few kilograms, to provide the data, making its satellites considerably smaller than the COSMIC spacecraft or those planned by other companies. Spire's spacecraft will fly as secondary payloads on launches starting in October, with 20 scheduled for launch into low Earth orbit by the end of 2015.
The company will expand the system to more than 100 satellites over the next two and a half years, Platzer said. The company then plans to continuously refresh the constellation with more advanced spacecraft, replacing about one quarter of the satellites on orbit every six months. He said the company is also developing a network of 20 ground stations to receive data from the satellites.
"Rather than talking about stuff, we are building and launching stuff," Platzer said when asked how his company differs from others in the commercial weather market, who have yet to launch any satellites.
One obstacle companies in the commercial weather market have encountered is winning customers. Platzer said Spire has signed up a dozen government and commercial customers, in the United States and other countries, but declined to identify them. The company will start by selling data, he said, but may later also offer value-added services based on that weather data.
Spire, previously known as Nanosatisfi, raised $25 million in venture capital in July 2014. At that time, the company said it was developing "high frequency, high accuracy" remote sensing systems focused on maritime markets. Platzer said Spire is fully funded through the deployment of its constellation.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/iss/nano-satellite-launched-space-station-tests-space-brake/

Nano-satellite launched from space station tests space brake      

Graphic rendering of TechEdSat–4 with exo-brake deployed. Exo-brake is an aerodynamic specially-designed parachute-like device, that causes the satellite to de–orbit and re–enter Earth's atmosphere. Image and Caption Credit: NASA.         
             
Josh Tallis
March 5th, 2015          
                                 
On the afternoon on March 3, the International Space Station deployed a small satellite using its Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer, the first NASA satellite to be thus ejected. TechEdSat-4, as the payload is named, is designed to test new space brake technologies to facilitate the rapid return of payloads to Earth.
Deploying what NASA terms a "second-generation exo-brake," essentially a fancy parachute designed to produce drag, a payload can be induced to de-orbit faster than other maneuvers can affect. The principal investigator for the project, Marcus Murbach, explains the technology in a recent NASA release:

The TechEdSat series, a technology education collaboration with San Jose State University and the University of Idaho, uses the standard CubeSat structure, which measures one unit (1U) as approximately four inches cubed (10 centimeters cubed). TechEdSat-4 is a 3U satellite. Image and Caption Credit: NASA.
 
"The exo-brake is a self-stabilizing exospheric deorbiting mechanism that will allow us to return a payload to Earth fairly rapidly from an orbital platform, like the International Space Station," said Murbach, program manager at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Murbach continued, "We were able to send commands and receive data to and from the satellite via the onboard modem using only a laptop and email account. This capability may greatly benefit the entire nanosatellite community."
Two and a half hours after initial launch, the small satellite received a command via email to deploy its exo-brake, which is capable of producing drag in the very low-pressure environment of low-Earth orbit.
The satellite's capacity to receive commands over email is equally significant, part of a suite of communications packages designed to replace the need for ground stations to monitor the health and status of orbiting payloads.
NASA hopes that this technology will not only enable cheaper return of material from orbit, which is currently performed by larger and heavier (and thus more expensive) crafts such as SpaceX's Dragon capsule, but also provide a template for small-scale missions to the surface of other planets. As Murbach explained in the NASA release,
"We've already developed a sample canister that during atmospheric re-entry could slip out the back of the satellite and safely be recovered on Earth. This could also be adapted to future Mars satellites as a piggy-back or ride-along payload that could jettison independently and study the mid-latitude or other scientifically interesting regions of Mars. Currently, it is extremely challenging to access these sites."
TechEdSat-4 is part of a partnership between San Jose State University and the University of Idaho. The satellite, the fourth successful installment, measures 12x4x4 inches (30x10x10 centimeters) and weighs about five pounds. The series has been undergoing orbital tests since 2012 when TechEdSat-1 demonstrated the model's basic communications capabilities. TechEdSat-5 is scheduled for launch later this year. The model will be roughly comparable to the fourth edition but will feature a more maneuverable exo-brake.

Video courtesy of NASA

[Salo]

http://tass.ru/kosmos/3768255

NASA приступает к запуску 24 небольших спутников дистанционного зондирования Земли
9 ноября, 8:21 UTC+3
 Первый старт запланирован на 11 ноября на базе ВВС США Ванденберг
 
  © EPA/NASA  
 
ВАШИНГТОН, 9 ноября. /Корр. ТАСС Дмитрий Кирсанов/. Национальное управление США по аэронавтике и исследованию космического пространства (NASA) приступает к реализации целого ряда научных миссий дистанционного зондирования Земли, которые предусматривают вывод на орбиту в общей сложности 24 небольших спутников. Об этом сообщил во вторник корр. ТАСС официальный представитель NASA Стив Коул.
Как отметил научный директорат NASA, речь идет о "шести миссиях следующего поколения по наблюдению за Землей", в ходе которых будут применяться "инновационные подходы" к изучению изменений, в первую очередь климатических, происходящих на нашей планете, в том числе при помощи микроспутников. Во исполнение намеченных замыслов американские специалисты готовят к отправке в космос аппараты, самый маленький из которых по размеру равен буханке хлеба, а самый большой - стиральной машине. Их вес варьируется от килограмма с небольшим до 180 кг. Запуск этих аппаратов в космос, как ожидается, растянется более чем на три года, пояснил Коул.
По его словам, первый такой старт запланирован уже на ближайшую пятницу - 11 ноября - на базе ВВС США Ванденберг (штат Калифорния). В этот день должен произойти вывод в космос спутника в интересах компании DigitalGlobe при помощи носителя Atlas V. Пользуясь этой возможностью, NASA хочет вывести на орбиту и небольшой радиометрический прибор, работа которого призвана помочь лучше понять воздействие парниковых газов на глобальное изменение климата. Небольшой спутник, несущий этот научный инструмент, станет вторичной нагрузкой ракеты-носителя Atlas V.
Затем 12 декабря с космодрома на мысе Канаверал (штат Флорида) предполагается отправить на орбиту сразу восемь спутников, которые должны будут работать в качестве одной группировки, помогая метеорологам строить более точные прогнозы насчет зарождения и траектории движения циклонов, ураганов и тайфунов в тропиках.
Дальнейшие пуски предстоят в период с будущей весны по 2020 год, отметил Коул. Со своей стороны новый глава научного директората NASA Томас Цурбухэн подчеркнул, что его ведомство "все больше использует небольшие спутники".

[pkl]

Google продаст свой сервис спутниковой съемки
06.02.2017 15:05  Новости международных рынков

Корпорация Google, входящая в состав холдинга Alphabet, сообщила в пятницу, 3 февраля, о том, что намерена продать свой сервис спутниковой съемки Terra Bella фирме Planet Labs. Финансовые условия сделки не разглашаются.
Сообщается, что в рамках соглашения в собственность Planet Labs перейдет семь спутников SkySat, предназначенных для фотосъемки с высоким разрешением, а Google планирует в дальнейшем приобретать у Planet Labs снимки с высоким разрешением для своих продуктов и сервисов в соответствии с подписанным контрактом.

 https://www.finam.ru/international/newsitem/google-prodast-svoiy-servis-sputnikovoiy-s-emki-20170206-15050/
Ну вот, начали жрать друг друга.

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DFJ Venture Capital ‏@DFJvc  6 ч.6 часов назад  
Doves in Space: @DFJvc @dfjsteve talks smallsats with @planetlabs visionary @wsm1 https://youtu.be/vd47Yu0t8o4

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vogel пишет:
PLANET TO LAUNCH RECORD-BREAKING 88 SATELLITES

Planet is pleased to announce that in February we are launching 88 satellites—the largest fleet of satellites launched in history. The Dove satellites (collectively known as "Flock 3p") will ride aboard a PSLV rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. They're heading to a morning crossing time, Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at an approximate altitude of 500 km. The launch date is currently set for February 14, Valentine's day.

[Salo]

 nanosats.eu | Nanosatellite Database‏ @nanosatellites  4 янв.  
2017 reached a new record of 295 launched nanosatellites including 287 CubeSats thanks to a great extent to @planetlabs (140), @SpireGlobal (46) and @QB50Mission (36). That is more than 2 previous years combined.