NASA prepares nanosatellites to Mars

Microsatellites using CubeSat technology are preparing for an expedition to Mars. Designed for tests and student training, the standard spacecraft is preparing for serious work in deep space.

Earlier, I already talked about how nano- and microsatellites of the CubeSat standard move from training and experimental goals to working in business. Today we’ll talk about the Cubsats, which are going to participate in the interplanetary flight, and serve for the benefit of basic science in the exploration of Mars.

By 2016, NASA is preparing to launch the InSight stationary landing platform on Mars. The platform should lay the first relatively deep well to study the bowels of the planet. The drill must overcome about 6 meters of rock and deliver temperature and seismic sensors to this depth. Analysis of the composition of the soil will not be carried out, and the purpose of the launch is to study the bowels of the planet using seismic waves, and to observe temperature processes in the crust of the planet. There were no earthquakes on Mars, but scientists hope to record seismic from meteorite impacts.



Two 6U CubeSat (10x24x36 cm) named MarCO (Mars Cube One) should start with InSight. They will be launched into the orbit in the same booster block as the Martian descent module, but they must overcome all the way to Mars on their own. For CubeSat, such a journey will be the first time. Dozens of such satellites have already been in space, but only in low Earth orbit. The industrial-grade electronics used in CubeSat are not intended in principle for operation in space. But in low orbits, it has already proved to be quite good, so NASA intends to complicate the task and continue testing in open space.



Although MarCO is an InSight escort mission, Cubsat does not have any key task on which the Mars exploration program depends. Those. satellites are launched according to the principle: "fly - well, do not fly - not scary."

The main task of satellites, in addition to testing electronics, is to relay signals from InSight during its landing. At that moment when the descent module enters the atmosphere of Mars, there will not be a single orbiting satellite relay nearby. MarCOs must receive signals descending InSight in the UHF band, and transmit to Earth in the X-band.



The long-distance space communication performed by the cubesats is an ambitious task that should be repeatedly applied in the process of studying the solar system. True, the data transfer rate is only 8 kb / s, but this is only ten times more than the capabilities of the Curiosity rover.



The peculiarity of the flight of MarCO is that they do not enter the orbit of Mars, and after sending data from InSight, the cubsats should disappear forever in the vastness of the Main asteroid belt. It is curious that in this the first CubeSat echoes the fate of the first spacecraft launched in the 60-70s at the dawn of the development of interplanetary astronautics.



Judging by NASA's plans, CubeSat standard satellites in the future will be added to almost all major interplanetary missions. Dozens of different layouts have already been developed by students and private companies in the United States, allowing for the conduct of many planetological, astrophysical and technological studies. The possibility of using solar sails, electric rocket engines and classical chemical engines to fly to the moon, asteroids, points of Lagrange, Mars, Venus and beyond is being explored. NASA is considering the possibility of cubsats in the orbit of Jupiter, Saturn and even Neptune.

In Russia, several technical teams now specialize in developments in CubeSat technology. A pair of Cubsat Dauria Aerospace"recently celebrated the anniversary of its work in orbit. And a couple of 6U Dauria devices are getting ready for launch by the end of 2015 by order of Roscosmos. A

team of your space sector community enthusiasts are now preparing their Mayak nanosatellite for stratospheric tests. Several student groups works at the aerospace faculties of various institutes. For example, the Astronomicon company was founded by graduates of the St. Petersburg Voenmekh. They are engaged in kubsats in Tomsk ... A conference on small spacecraft was recently held in Samara, although I was not the only one discussing CubeSat there,

I tried to arrange a census of Russian cubes builders , but not all were noted, if you know anyone else, tell us in the comments.