AeroCube 15A, 15B (Rogue Alpha, Beta)

AeroCube 15 [The Aerospace Corporation]

The AeroCube 15 A & B mission by The Aerospace Corporation consists off two 3U CubeSats that will demonstrate rapid development of a small size, weight and power (SWAP), low cost optical sensor in low earth orbit. The payload consists of a custom-designed telescope combined with a commercially available camera core.

The AeroCube-15 satellites have been developed by The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) for the purpose of conducting experiments in space per their charter as a private, non-profit corporation operating a Federally Funded Research and Development Center in support of the US Air Force. All payload components were developed by Aerospace for our purpose of conducting in-space technology demonstration experiments.

The AeroCube-15 satellites each which weigh approximately 3.7 kg and are 34 × 11 × 11 centimeters in dimension. The orbit will be circular between 450 km to 500 km altitude with an inclination of 51.6°.

Each of the two AeroCube-15 satellites has star trackers and other attitude control verification imagers. The primary purpose of the cameras is for attitude control determination and verification.

The satellites will be launched from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer mounted to the external surface of the Cygnus CRS-12 spacecraft. The Cygnus spacecraft raises its orbit to an altitude of ~500 km following unberthing from the International Space Station (ISS).