The AeroCube-6 Mission

Fuller, Jerome K., The Aerospace Corp.; Hinkley, David A., The Aerospace Corp.; Hardy, Brian S., The Aerospace Corp.; Lee, Justin H., The Aerospace Corp.; Stevens, Robert E., The Aerospace Corp.; Blake, J. Bernard, The Aerospace Corp.

doi:10.1117/3.2618157.ch7

Book: The Nanosatellite Revolution: 30 Years and Continuing

Editor(s): Henry Helvajian; Siegfried W. Janson

Author(s): Jerome Fuller, David Hinkley, Brian Hardy, Justin Lee, Robert Stevens, J. Bernard Blake

Published: 2023

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2618157.ch7

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

AeroCube-6 was a 1U (10 cm) CubeSat-class nanosatellite that separated, on command, into two ½U satellites on orbit. The primary payload on each 850-gram 0.5U CubeSat was a trio of micro-dosimeters designed to monitor space radiation levels. These satellites were spin-stabilized with their solar arrays facing the sun and flown in tandem at different ranges from 100 to 800 km. Differential drag was used to establish and maintain the desired spacing between them. The AeroCube-6 mission provided the first example of spatially separated dosimeters on CubeSats flying in unison to study the dynamics of the space weather radiation. It launched on a DNEPR in June of 2014 into a 700 km, 98-deg inclination orbit. It was hosted inside the UniSat-6 satellite, built by G.A.U.S.S. Srl in Rome, Italy. UniSat-6 deployed AeroCube-6 and three other CubeSats after a few days. The secondary payload was a solar cell monitoring experiment that measured current-voltage curves for a second set of solar cells. Development of AeroCube-6 was funded by the USAF SMC Advanced Plans program office.