TOMSat R3 [Aerospace Corp.]
The AeroCube 11 (AC11) or TOMSat (Testbed for Optical Missions Satellite) spectral satellite are two nearly-identical spacecraft featuring multispectral, pushbroom imagers that fly the Landsat-8 visible bands in a 3U Cubesat package. The goal of AC11/TOMSat is to show that these sensors perform comparably to flagship missions, such as Landsat.
The AeroCube 11/Testbed for Optical Missions Satellite (AC11/TOMSat) program consists of two nearly-identical spacecraft that will demonstrate the technological capability of two imaging sensors.
One satellite will host a pushbroom time delay integration (TDI) sensor that will provide normalized difference vegetation index (NVDI) data for comparison to NVDI provided by Landsat’s Operational Land Imager (OLI).
The second AC11/TOMSat spacecraft will host an SB-501 focal plane array that will image terrestrial, lunar, and stellar targets.
Both satellites will have a laser communication downlink.
It will demonstrate the utility of CubeSats to perform remote-sensing missions at a performance level comparable to that of larger spacecraft. The bus includes a 2.5-cm-diameter telescope paired with a visible-light sensor, 3-axis attitude control, 8 GB of image storage space, and a laser transmitter to downlink the images at a very high rate (up to 200Mbit/sec). The project began in mid-2014 and will be delivered in mid-2017, to be launched into a 500 km, 85° inclination circular orbit. With a ground sample resolution of 40 m and a field of view close to 50 km, the payload will produce data useful for agricultural and mineral surveys and coastal water quality monitoring, among other applications.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Technology |
Operator: | Aerospace Corporation |
Contractors: | Aerospace Corporation |
Equipment: | |
Configuration: | CubeSat (3U) |
Propulsion: | |
Power: | 2 deployable fixed solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | 1 year |
Mass: | 5 kg (#TOMSat EagleScout); 4.6 kg (#TOMSat R3); |
Orbit: | 495 km × 511 km, 85.03° (#11A); 492 km × 511 km, 85.04°(#11B) |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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TOMSat EagleScout (AeroCube 11A, AC 11-A) | 2018-104N | 16.12.2018 | OnS LC-1A | Electron KS | with ALBus, CeREs, CHOMPTT, Da Vinci, ISX, NMTSat, RSat-P, Shields 1, STF 1, CubeSail A, CubeSail B, TOMSat R3, SHFT 1 | |
TOMSat R3 (AeroCube 11B, AC 11-B) | 2018-104A | 16.12.2018 | OnS LC-1A | Electron KS | with ALBus, CeREs, CHOMPTT, Da Vinci, ISX, NMTSat, RSat-P, Shields 1, STF 1, CubeSail A, CubeSail B, TOMSat EagleScout, SHFT 1 |