Team Miles
Team Miles is a type of nanosatellite called 6-Unit CubeSat that will demonstrate navigation in deep space using innovative plasma thrusters. It will also test a software-defined radio operating in the S band for communications from about 4 million kilometers from Earth.
| Mission type | Technology |
|---|---|
| Website | team |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Team Miles |
| Spacecraft type | 6U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | Fluid and Reason LLC |
| Launch mass | 14 kg (31 lb) |
| Dimensions | 10×20×30 cm |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2021[1] |
| Rocket | SLS Block 1 |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric (Earth-trailing) |
| Flyby of Moon | |
| Transponders | |
| Band | S band |
Team Miles will be one of thirteen CubeSats to be carried with the Artemis 1 mission into a heliocentric orbit in cislunar space on the maiden flight of the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, scheduled to launch in 2021.
Overview
| Parameter | Units/performance |
|---|---|
| Thrust | 5 mN |
| Specific impulse (Isp) | 760 sec |
| Impulse | 7456 N sec |
| Power | 22 W |
| Wet mass | 1.5 kg |
| Propellant mass | 1 kg |
| Propellant | Solid iodine |
| Thrust:Mass | 3.3 mN/kg |
| Impulse:Power | 338 N sec/W |
| Delta-V 12 kg craft | 649 m/s |
The spacecraft, a 6-Unit CubeSat —measuring 10×20×30 cm— was designed and is being developed by a non-profit group of fifteen citizen scientists and engineers (Fluid and Reason, LLC) based at Tampa, Florida.[2][3][4] Since the Team Miles won the first place at CubeQuest Challenge for the selection process,[5] Fluid and Reason, LLC stroke partnerships and became Miles Space, a commercial endeavor to further develop the technology and intellectual property that has come out of the design process.[2]
Propulsion
Wesley Faler, who leads Fluid and Reason, LLC., is the inventor of the ion thruster to be used, which he calls ConstantQ Model H.[6][2] It is a form of electric propulsion for spacecraft. The engine is a hybrid plasma and laser thruster that uses ionized iodine as propellant.[7][4]
The Model H system includes 4 thruster heads which are canted, allowing for both primary propulsion and attitude control (orientation) without the use of moving parts.[6][8] The goal within the CubeQest Challenge is to travel 4 million kilometers, but the team will attempt to go as far as 96 million kilometers before the end of the mission.[2]
Radio
The spacecraft will use the USRP B200mini, a software-defined radio operating in the S band for communications from about 4 million kilometers from Earth.[9]
See also
- The 13 CubeSats flying in the Artemis 1 mission
- Lunar Flashlight will map exposed water ice on the Moon
- Near-Earth Asteroid Scout by NASA is a solar sail spacecraft that will encounter a near-Earth asteroid
- BioSentinel is an astrobiology mission
- SkyFire by Lockheed Martin
- Lunar IceCube, by the Morehead State University
- CubeSat for Solar Particles (CuSP)
- Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map), designed by the Arizona State University
- EQUULEUS, submitted by JAXA and the University of Tokyo
- OMOTENASHI, submitted by JAXA, is a lunar lander
- ArgoMoon, designed by Argotec and coordinated by Italian Space Agency
- Cislunar Explorers, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
- Earth Escape Explorer (CU-E3), University of Colorado Boulder
- Team Miles, by Fluid and Reason LLC, Florida
References
- "NASA's large SLS rocket unlikely to fly before at least late 2021". 17 July 2019.
- Cube Quest Challenge Spotlight: Team Miles. Space Daily, 19 May 2017.
- Cube Quest Challenge Spotlight: Team Miles. Jennifer Harbaugh, NASA News. 18 May 2017.
- The Miles CubeSat Might Be the Next Satellite Sent to Mars. Jeremy S Cook, MakeZine
- Centennial Challenges Program Overview: How NASA Successfully Involves the General Public in the Solving of Current Technology Gaps. AIAA SPACE Forum. 12 - 14 Sep 2017, Orlando, FL. AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition.
- ConstantQ Spacecraft Propulsion. Fluid and Reason LLC. 2017.
- Tampa team enters new Space Race with cube satellite. Lloyd Sowers, Fox News. 11 May 2017.
- ConstantQ™ Thruster. Miles Space 2017.
- Investigation into New Ground Based Communications Service Offerings in Response to SmallSat Trends. (PDF) Scott Schaire, Serhat Altunc, Yen Wong, etal. 32nd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. Document SSC18-SI-07.