nanosatellites tagged posts

Artist’s concept of the spacecraft. Credit: FMI

A fleet of tiny spacecraft could visit over 300 asteroids in just over 3 years, according to a mission study led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The Asteroid Touring Nanosat Fleet concept comprises 50 spacecraft propelled by innovative electric solar wind sails (E-sails) and equipped with instruments to take images and collect spectroscopic data on the composition of the asteroids. Each nanosat would visit 6 or 7 asteroids before returning to Earth to deliver the data. The concept will be presented by Dr Pekka Janhunen at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2017 in Riga on Tuesday 19th September.

“Asteroids are very diverse and, to date, we’ve only seen a small number at close range...

Eight small-sized satellites total a big bonus for science. The Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission uses a swarm of small spacecraft to carry out scientific measurements. Credits: NASA

A cluster of small and low-cost nanosatellites is ready for liftoff from Hawaii – an inventive effort called the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission for scientific, commercial, and academic research tasks in space.

The flock of 8 tissue box-sized satellites is set to ride into Earth orbit as secondary payloads on the U.S. Department of Defense Operationally Responsive Space-4 mission.

Two of the assembled Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission satellites...