 RAX under construction | |
| Mission type | Auroral research |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / NSF[citation needed] |
| COSPAR ID | 2010-062B |
| SATCAT no. | 37223 |
| Website | rax |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | 3U CubeSat |
| Launch mass | 28.0 kilograms (61.7 lb)[citation needed] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 20 November 2010, 01:25:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Minotaur IV/HAPS |
| Launch site | Kodiak Pad 1 |
| Contractor | Orbital Sciences |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | May 2011 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Eccentricity | 0.0021634 |
| Perigee altitude | 622 kilometres (386 mi)[1] |
| Apogee altitude | 653 kilometres (406 mi)[1] |
| Inclination | 71.97 degrees[1] |
| Period | 97.52 minutes[1] |
| RAAN | 73.62 degrees |
| Argument of perigee | 311.60 degrees |
| Epoch | 2 December 2010[1] |
Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) is the first National Science Foundation sponsored CubeSat mission.[2] The RAX mission is a joint effort between SRI International in Menlo Park, California and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The chief scientist at SRI International, Dr. Hasan Bahcivan, led his team at SRI to develop the payload while the chief engineer, Dr. James Cutler, led a team of students to develop the satellite bus in the Michigan Exploration Laboratory. There are currently two satellites in the RAX mission.
The RAX-1 mission, launched in November 2010, was a demonstration of the team's technological capabilities – it made great strides in CubeSat design, and was able to execute bistatic radar measurements that had never before been performed on a satellite of its size.[3]
RAX-2 builds on this heritage by completing the scientific portion of the overall mission; it is a reflection of students learning from practical experience, and swiftly implementing new, more inventive technologies firsthand. RAX team members were able to get practical spacecraft troubleshooting experience, and applied lessons learned from RAX-1 to RAX-2, which performs the same mission concept with improved bus performance and additional operational modes. RAX-2 launched on October 28, 2011 as part of the NASA ELaNa-3 mission.[4][5]
- ^ a b c d e McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ National Science Foundation Press Release
- ^ RAX-1 Mission Completed Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "NASA - Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report". Nasa.gov. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
- ^ "NASA - ELaNa: Educational Launch of Nanosatellites". Nasa.gov. 2011-02-14. Retrieved 2012-05-26.