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Ascent satellite marks end of mission objectives
by Joanne Perkins for AFRL News
Kirtland AFB NM (SPX) Oct 19, 2022

An artist's rendering of the Ascent spacecraft, with fully deployed solar arrays.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's small satellite named Ascent has completed all of its mission objectives and is performing extended operations to characterize the survivability of the commercial-off-the-shelf, or COTS, bus electronics in the geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO, space environment.

Ascent, launched Dec. 7, 2021, is a 12-unit CubeSat developed within the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate's Small Satellite Portfolio at Kirtland Air Force Base, in partnership with the Space Security and Defense Program. CubeSats range in size, and can be as small as a deck of cards or as large as a microwave oven.

Ascent's mission has been to evaluate the performance of COTS technology, in the GEO space environment, where satellites match the Earth's rotation. Having a better understanding of how various components survive in this harsh environment, is critical to fielding robust satellites.

"The survivability of COTS electronics in the GEO environment, has taken us by surprise," said Capt. Sunderlin Jackson, Ascent program manager. "No one expected Ascent would still be operating as well as it is, this long after deployment. This gives us alternatives to creating our own satellite components, saving both time and money."

The satellite was the first CubeSat flown by AFRL in the GEO space environment, which introduced a number of challenges not present in the low Earth orbit, or LEO, environment where most CubeSats have been flown and tested.

"We focused hard on designing, building and testing a spacecraft to survive in this harsh region, and survive it did, laying the groundwork for future small-sat space experiments in GEO," he said.

Jackson summarized the next steps for the Ascent satellite. "Now that we have data that proves the effectiveness in that region, we will be monitoring for trends in spacecraft health over time, continuing nominal operations, and exploring options to transfer to another agency as a training or demonstrations asset."

The Ascent program employed about 15 AFRL researchers along with many contractors and has a funding level of $10 million.


Related Links
Air Force Research Laboratory's
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com


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Ad-block this: Advertisers ready to hit you with commercials from space
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Researchers from Skoltech and MIPT have studied the economic feasibility of a space advertising mission that would launch a formation of satellites into orbit to reflect sunlight and display commercials in the sky above cities. Published in the journal Aerospace, the study considers such factors as satellite fuel consumption, target city population, local advertising costs, and many more, arriving at a tentative $65 million estimate for the entire mission cost and showing that such a mission could indee ... read more

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