24 Facts About CubeSats

CubeSats are put into orbit by deployers on the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle.

CubeSats are employed to demonstrate spacecraft technologies intended for small satellites or that present questionable feasibility and are unlikely to justify the cost of a larger satellite.

Some CubeSats have become countries' first-ever satellites, being launched by universities, state-owned, or private companies.

The first CubeSats launched in June 2003 on a Russian Eurockot, and approximately 75 CubeSats had entered orbit by 2012.

In 2014, two 6U Perseus-M CubeSats were launched for maritime surveillance, the largest yet at the time.

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Still, some CubeSats will undergo vibration analysis or structural analysis to ensure that components unsupported by the P-POD remain structurally sound throughout the launch.

Attitude control for CubeSats relies on miniaturizing technology without significant performance degradation.

Some CubeSats operate normally while tumbling, but those that require pointing in a certain direction or cannot operate safely while spinning, must be detumbled.

Commonly found on nearly all CubeSats are magnetorquers which run electricity through a solenoid to take advantage of Earth's magnetic field to produce a turning moment.

CubeSats which require longer life benefit from propulsion systems, when used for orbit keeping a propulsion system can slow orbital decay.

Types of electric propulsion currently being designed for use in CubeSats include Hall-effect thrusters, ion thrusters, pulsed plasma thrusters, electrospray thrusters, and resistojets.

Components used to ensure the temperature requirements are met in CubeSats include multi-layer insulation and heaters for the battery.

Such testing provides a larger degree of assurance than full-sized satellites can receive, since CubeSats are small enough to fit inside of a thermal vacuum chamber in their entirety.

The CubeSats were injected into a Sun-synchronous orbit and included the Danish AAU CubeSat and DTUSat, the Japanese XI-IV and CUTE-1, the Canadian Can X-1, and the US Quakesat.

The CubeSats launched were e-st@r Space, Goliat, MaSat-1, PW-Sat, Robusta, UniCubeSat-GG, and XaTcobeo .

The CubeSats were launched in the framework of the "Vega Maiden Flight" opportunity of the European Space Agency.

Since its inception the CubeSat Launch Initiative has launched 46 CubeSats flown on 12 ELaNa Missions from 28 unique organizations and has selected 119 CubeSat missions from 66 unique organizations.

Double-unit CubeSats are developed, with one unit providing the usual satellite functions and the other unit accommodating a set of standardised sensors for lower thermosphere and re-entry research.

Ten 2U or 3U CubeSats are foreseen to serve for in-orbit technology demonstration of new space technologies.

All 50 CubeSats were supposed to be launched together on a single Cyclone-4 launch vehicle in February 2016, but due to the unavailability of the launch vehicle, 36 satellites were launched aboard Cygnus CRS OA-7 on 18 April 2017 and subsequently deployed from the ISS.

Unlike full-sized spacecraft, CubeSats have the ability to be delivered into space as cargo and then deployed by the International Space Station.

Since CubeSats are deployed by P-PODs and similar deployment systems, they can be integrated and launched into virtually any launch vehicle.

P-PODs were designed with CubeSats to provide a common platform for secondary payloads.

Eleven CubeSats are planned to be launched on the Artemis 1, which would place them in the vicinity of the Moon.