Team Miles
Team Miles is a type of nanosatellite called 6U 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. Team Miles will be one of ten 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 (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft, scheduled to launch in 2022.[1]
| Mission type | Technology demonstration |
|---|---|
| Website | team |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Team Miles |
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
| Bus | 6U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | Fluid and Reason, LLC. |
| Launch mass | 14 kg (31 lb) |
| Dimensions | 10 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 2022 (planned) |
| Rocket | SLS Block 1 |
| Launch site | KSC, LC-39B |
| Contractor | NASA |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric orbit |
| Flyby of Moon | |
| Transponders | |
| Band | S-band |
NASA CubeQuest Challenge | |
Overview
| Parameter | Units/performance |
|---|---|
| Thrust | 5 mN |
| Specific impulse (Isp) | 760 seconds |
| Impulse | 7456 N seconds |
| Power | 22 watts |
| Wet mass | 1.5 kg |
| Propellant mass | 1 kg |
| Propellant | Solid iodine |
| Thrust:Mass | 3.3 mN/kg |
| Impulse:Power | 338 N seconds/watt |
| Delta-V 12 kg craft | 649 m/s |
The spacecraft, a 6-Unit CubeSat — measuring 10 cm × 20 cm × 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
- Near-Earth Asteroid Scout by NASA is a solar sail spacecraft that will encounter a near-Earth asteroid
- BioSentinel is an astrobiology mission
- LunIR by Lockheed Martin Space
- 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 (ASI)
- Team Miles, by Fluid and Reason LLC, Tampa, Florida
- The 3 CubeSat missions removed from Artemis 1
- Lunar Flashlight will map exposed water ice on the Moon
- Cislunar Explorers, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
- Earth Escape Explorer (CU-E3), University of Colorado Boulder
References
- Clark, Stephen (12 October 2021). "Adapter structure with 10 CubeSats installed on top of Artemis moon rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- "Cube Quest Challenge Spotlight: Team Miles". Space Daily. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- Jennifer Harbaugh (18 May 2017). "Cube Quest Challenge Spotlight: Team Miles". NASA. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. - Jeremy S. Cook (30 August 2017). "The Miles CubeSat Might Be the Next Satellite Sent to Mars". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- "Centennial Challenges Program Overview: How NASA Successfully Involves the General Public in the Solving of Current Technology Gaps". Orlando, Florida: AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition. 12–14 September 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- "ConstantQ Spacecraft Propulsion". Fluid and Reason, LLC. 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- Lloyd Sowers (12 May 2017). "Tampa team enters new Space Race with cube satellite". FOX13 Tampa Bay. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- "ConstantQ™ Thruster". Miles Space. 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- Scott Schaire (2018). "Investigation into New Ground Based Communications Service Offerings in Response to SmallSat Trends". 32nd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites Document SSC18-SI-07. Retrieved 10 March 2021.