EDSN

EDSN [NASA]

The EDSN (Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks) mission will deploy a swarm of eight cubesats into a loose formation orbiting approximately 400 kilometers above Earth. EDSN will demonstrate the potential value of multiple small satellites as tools for a wide array of scientific, commercial, and academic space research. Other goals of the project include reducing the cost and time required to design and build future small spacecraft as well as testing new software applications.

Each EDSN satellite is about 10 by 10 by 15 cm in size and weighs approximately 2 kg. This size is equivalent to 1.5U cubesat units. Each satellite carries an identical sensor to measure space radiation in Earth orbit. The continuous sensor data from each of the satellites in their separate locations can be collected and combined to provide a much more complete picture of the space environment than possible with a single satellite.

The EDSN swarm is expected to operate for at least 60 days in orbit and they will remain in orbit for up to four years. The plan is to launch all of the spacecraft together as secondary payloads on a Super Strypi launch vehicle from Kauai, Hawaii in late 2013.

The EDSN mission will demonstrate new communications capabilities, including satellites sending data, as needed, amongst themselves. This allows for flexible and simplified spacecraft operations with more rapid return of scientific data.

The EDSN project is managed and conducted by a team at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and is funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program in NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist. The project began in October 2012 and should be completed in a little over two years from start.

Other team members on the EDSN project are the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Montana State University in Bozeman, which is providing the radiation sensors under contract to NASA, and Santa Clara University, California, which is providing the ground tracking station and operations.