![]() And with high-data-rate antennas, CubeSats could venture out and explore the solar system.Īfter a couple of years of dedicated effort, the antenna team at JPL finally solved the problem-and in two different ways. Earth-orbiting CubeSats could finally start doing radar-based science, such as measuring wind and precipitation. If we could somehow figure out a way to equip a CubeSat with a powerful high-gain antenna, vast new opportunities for research and exploration would open up. And so the tiny satellites have been limited to Earth orbit, unable to advance the scientific frontier beyond the immediate environs of our own planet. In particular, it’s been too difficult to outfit the satellites with antennas big enough to achieve high data rates or high-resolution radar. ![]() Photo: JPL/NASAīut a CubeSat’s small size can be a huge liability when it comes to communications. Upon deployment, its 30 ribs extend like an umbrella to form a parabolic dish that's still small enough to test in a thermal vacuum chamber. RainCube's Umbrella: The radar antenna for the tiny RainCube satellite folds up into a 10-by-10-by-15-centimeter canister. Over time, the onboard sensors and processing that CubeSats can carry have been the beneficiaries of Moore’s Law advancements in electronics, growing more powerful and sophisticated, lighter in weight, and energy efficient. Compared with traditional satellites, they are relatively inexpensive and small, weighing just a few kilograms, and they can be ready to launch in a matter of months, rather than the years it typically takes to prepare a standard spacecraft. These tiny spacecraft have become the go-to vessel for researchers and startups doing Earth imaging and monitoring. How hard could that be?įortunately, my colleagues and I love a challenge, and we welcomed the chance to push CubeSat technology to its limits. It would have to survive the 160-million-kilometer flight to the Red Planet, including the intense vibration of launch and the radiation and extreme temperatures of deep space. Shortly thereafter, it would unfurl to a size three times as large as the satellite itself. The antenna would be stowed during launch, occupying only about 830 cubic centimeters. Nothing as diminutive as the Mars satellite-which belongs to a class called CubeSats-had ever gone farther than low Earth orbit. ![]() “Oh, and the satellite itself will be only about the size of a briefcase.” Our only hope is a large antenna,” Oudrhiri explained. “We have to achieve 8 kilobits per second, and we’re limited in terms of power. The satellite would fly alongside NASA’s InSight Mars Lander, relaying data in real time back to Earth during the lander’s critical entry, descent, and landing. A first-of-its-kind satellite was headed for Mars. One morning in November 2014, Kamal Oudrhiri, a colleague of mine at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, Calif., burst into my office with an intriguing proposition. ![]()
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