The NROL-39 GEMSat mission lifted off from
California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on Dec. 5, 2013, aboard a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Image Credit: P. Corkery/ULA
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Artist's concept of the Intelligent Payload
Experiment (IPEX) and M-Cubed/COVE-2, two NASA Earth-orbiting cube satellites
("CubeSats") that were launched as part of the NROL-39 GEMSat mission from
California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on Dec. 5, 2013.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Two tiny, cube-shaped research satellites hitched a ride to Earth orbit to
validate new hardware and software technologies for future NASA Earth-observing
instruments.
The cube satellites, or “CubeSats,” which typically have a volume of exactly
33.814 ounces (1 liter), were launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket at 11:14 p.m. PST last night (Dec. 5) from California's Vandenberg Air
Force Base as part of the NROL-39 GEMSat mission. Led by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and developed with university and industry
partners, these two CubeSats will help enable near-real-time processing
capabilities relevant to future climate science measurements.
One of the CubeSats that launched was developed in collaboration with
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is called the
Intelligent Payload Experiment, or IPEX. It enables imagery to be transmitted
more rapidly from satellite missions back to Earth. By using new software and
algorithms, the spacecraft can sift through the data, looking only for the most
important images that the scientists urgently need on the ground. This method is
designed to speed delivery time of critical data products from days to
minutes.
“IPEX will demonstrate software that will enable future NASA missions to
recognize science events such as flooding, volcanism and wildfires, and respond
by sending alerts and autonomously acquiring follow-up imagery,” said Steve
Chien of JPL, principal investigator for the IPEX mission.
The other CubeSat launched is the Michigan Multipurpose
Mini-satellite/CubeSat On-board processing Validation Experiment, or
M-Cubed/COVE.
M-Cubed, developed in partnership with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
will image Earth. The COVE payload will use these data to validate an instrument
image data processing algorithm that will greatly reduce the science data
transmission rate required for on-orbit operations.
“The COVE payload will advance processor and algorithm technology designed
for use in a future science instrument to characterize properties of aerosols
and clouds, which will help our understanding of global climate change,” said
Paula Pingree of JPL, principal investigator of the MCubed/COVE-2 mission.
These technology validation missions are sponsored by NASA’s Earth Science
Technology Office. They are designed to satisfy their science objectives within
six months, but will remain in Earth orbit for many years.
The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
For additional information on NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program,
visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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