Operator | NASA / GSFC |
---|---|
COSPAR ID | 2006-008A through 2006-008C |
SATCAT no. | 28980 through 28982 |
Website | nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/st5 |
Mission duration | 18 years, 7 months and 20 days (in orbit) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | UCLA Kennedy Space Center New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory |
Launch mass | 25 kilograms (55 lb) |
Power | ≈20–25 W @ 9–10 V |
End of mission | |
Deactivated | June 30, 2006 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Sun synchronous |
Eccentricity | 0.239 |
Perigee altitude | 300 km (190 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 4,500 km (2,800 mi)[1] |
Inclination | 105.6° |
Transponders | |
Band | X-Band |
Bandwidth | 1 Kbps / 1 or 100 Kbps |
Space Technology 5 (ST5) of the NASA New Millennium program was a test of ten new technologies aboard a group of microsatellites. Developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the three individual small spacecraft were launched together from the belly of a Lockheed L-1011 aboard the Pegasus XL rocket, on 22 March 2006. One technology involved antennas that were designed by computers using an evolutionary AI system developed at NASA Ames Research Center.[2] The ST5 on-board flight computer, the C&DH (Command & Data Handling) system, was based on a Mongoose-V radiation-hardened microprocessor.
On 30 June 2006 the satellites making up ST5 were shut down after successfully completing their technology validation mission.[3]