UNITE (Undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer) was a CubeSat nanosatellite developed by the University of Southern Indiana. The project was funded by NASA's Undergraduate Student Instrument Project and primarily designed and built by students. It was launched into space on 5 December 2018 and deployed into its orbit from the International Space Station on 31 January 2019.[1] Its mission included measuring plasma in the lower ionosphere and monitoring the drag and temperature of the satellite itself.[2][3]
Mission type | Ionospheric research |
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Operator | University of Southern Indiana |
COSPAR ID | 1998-067PX ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 44031![]() |
Mission duration | 2 years, 8 months and 21 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | 3U CubeSat |
Launch mass | 4 kg (8.8 lb) |
Dimensions | 10 cm (4 in) x 10 cm (4 in) x 30 cm (12 in) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 5 December 2018 (2018-12-05) UTC |
Rocket | Falcon 9 FT, CRS-16 |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
Contractor | SpaceX |
End of mission | |
Decay date | 21 October 2021 (2021-10-22) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
UNITE reentered the atmosphere on 21 October 2021, after 994 days in orbit.[4][5]
← 2017 · Orbital launches in 2018 · 2019 → | |
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January | USA-280 / Zuma – SuperView / Gaojing-1 03 · 04 – BeiDou-3 M7 · M8 – Cartosat-2F · Microsat · INS-1C · PicSat · ICEYE-X1 · Fox-1D – LKW-3 – ASNARO-2 – Jilin 1 07 · 08 · Xiaoxiang · Zhou Enlai · Kepler · Quantutong-1 – USA-282 / SBIRS-GEO-4 – "Still Testing" (Dove Pioneer · Lemur-2 × 2 · Humanity Star) – Yaogan 30K · 30L · 30M · Weina 1A – SES-14 · Al Yah 3 – GovSat-1 / SES-16 |
February | Kanopus-V No. 3 · No. 4 · S-Net × 4 · Lemur-2 × 4 – CSES · ÑuSat 4, 5 – TRICOM-1R – Falcon Heavy test flight (Tesla Roadster) – BeiDou-3 M3 · M4 – Progress MS-08 – Paz · Tintin A & B – IGS-Optical 6 |
March | GOES-17 – Hispasat 30W-6 – O3b × 4 (FM13 to FM16) – Soyuz MS-08 – GSAT-6A – EMKA / Kosmos 2525 – BeiDou-3 M9 · M10 – Iridium NEXT 41–50 – Gaofen-1-02 · 03 · 04 |
April | Dragon CRS-14 · 1KUNS-PF · Irazú · UBAKUSAT – Superbird-B3 · HYLAS-4 – Yaogan 31A · 31B · 31C · Weina 1B – IRNSS-1I – AFSPC-11 · EAGLE – Blagovest-12L / Kosmos 2526 – TESS – Sentinel-3B – Zhuhai-1 × 5 |
May | Apstar 6C – InSight · MarCO A, B – Gaofen-5 – Bangabandhu-1 – Chang'e 4 Relay – Cygnus CRS OA-9E · RaInCube – Iridium NEXT 51–55 · GRACE-FO × 2 |
June | Gaofen-6 – SES-12 – Fengyun-2H – Soyuz MS-09 – IGS-Radar 6 – GLONASS-M 756 / Kosmos 2527 – XJSS A · B – Dragon CRS-15 (Biarri-Squad × 3 · BHUTAN-1 · Maya-1 · UiTMSAT-1) |
July | PRSS-1 · PakTES-1A – BeiDou IGSO-7 – Progress MS-09 – Telstar 19V – Galileo FOC 19–22 – Iridium NEXT 56–65 – BeiDou-3 M5 · M6 – Gaofen 11 |
August | |
September | HY-1C – Telstar 18V – ICESat-2 — SSTL S1-4 · NovaSAR-1 – BeiDou-3 M13 · M14 – Kounotori 7 – Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 · Horizons-3e – CentiSpace-1-S1 |
October | SAOCOM 1A – Yaogan 32A · 32B – Soyuz MS-10 – BeiDou-3 M15 · M16 – AEHF-4 – BepiColombo – HY 2B – Lotos-S1 No. 3 / Kosmos 2528 – Weilai-1 – CFOSAT – GOSAT-2 · KhalifaSat · Diwata-2B · Stars-AO · AUTcube2 |
November | BeiDou-3 G1Q – GLONASS-M 757 / Kosmos 2529 – MetOp-C – "It's Business Time" (Lemur-2 × 2 · CICERO · IRVINE01 · NABEO · Proxima × 2) – GSAT-29 – Es'hail 2 – Progress MS-10 – Cygnus NG-10 – BeiDou-3 M17 · M18 – Jiading-1 · Tianping-1A, 1B · Tianzhi-1 · Weixing-6 – Mohammed VI-B – HySIS · Blacksky Global 1 · 29 more CubeSats – Strela-3M 16–18 / Kosmos 2530–2532 |
December | Soyuz MS-11 – Eu:CROPIS · ESEO · IRVINE02 · Orbital Reflector (one of 64 CubeSats on the SSO-A mission) – GSAT-11 · GEO-KOMPSAT 2A – SpaceX CRS-16 – SaudiSat 5A, 5B – Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2) – "This One's For Pickering" (RSat-P · CubeSail · total 16 CubeSats) – GSAT-7A – CSO-1 – Blagovest-13L / Kosmos 2533 – Hongyun 1 – USA-289 / GPS IIIA-01 – TJSW-3 – Kanopus-V No. 5 · No. 6 · GRUS-1 · D-Star ONE iSat · D-Star ONE Sparrow · Flock-3k × 12 · Lemur-2 × 8 · Lume-1 · ZACube-2 – Hongyan 1 · Yunhai-2 01–06 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |
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