INSPIRE [NASA]
The INSPIRE (Interplanetary NanoSpacecraft Pathfinder In a Relevant Environment) mission is a two satellite mission to demonstrate the usefulness of cubesats for functionality, communication, navigation and payload hosting in interplanetary space.
INSPIRE is a NASA JPL partnership with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; and the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Goldstone-Apple Valley Radio Telescope.
The satellites are built to the 3U-CubeSat form factor and feature a cold gas attitude control system. They will be launched piggyback and deployed to an escape trajectory.
The mission objectives are:
The objective is to place both nanosatellites into an Earth-escape orbit. The nominal INSPIRE mission will last for three months and will achieve an expected Earth-probe distance of 1.5 × 108 km (depending upon the escape velocity).
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Technology |
Operator: | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Contractors: | Jet Propulsion Laboratory (prime); Pumpkin (bus) |
Equipment: | |
Configuration: | CubeSat (3U) |
Propulsion: | None |
Power: | 2 deployable fixed solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | 3 months |
Mass: | 3.8 kg |
Orbit: | Solar orbit |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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INSPIRE A | - | (via NASA ELaNa program) | with ?, INSPIRE B | |||
INSPIRE B | - | (via NASA ELaNa program) | with ?, INSPIRE A |