BeaverCube [MIT]
BeaverCube is an educational mission led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to introduce high school students, nationwide, to aerospace science and technology through designing a 3U CubeSat.
BeaverCube uses multiple cameras in a 3U CubeSat to take color images of Earth’s oceans and detect the temperature of cloud tops and the ocean surface. Collected data can improve understanding of the concentration of phytoplankton, a significant factor in the generation of atmospheric oxygen and for Earth’s climate and weather systems. The investigation also demonstrates a new electric propulsion technology, Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray (TILE) 2 by Accion Systems Inc., to maneuver the satellite.
It was selected in 2019 by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) to be launched as part of the ELaNa program.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Technology, education |
Operator: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
Contractors: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
Equipment: | |
Configuration: | CubeSat (3U) |
Propulsion: | Electrospray ion thruster |
Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | |
Orbit: | 411 km × 415 km, 51.64° |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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BeaverCube | 1998-067UF | 15.07.2022 | CCK LC-39A | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with Dragon CRS-25, EMIT, CLICK A, D3, JAGSAT 1, CapSat 1, FUTABA, HSU-SAT 1, TUMnanoSAT |