cosmos.wikisort.org - Spacecraft

The Vermont Lunar CubeSat is a CubeSat satellite by Vermont Technical College and funded in part by grants from NASA, Vermont Space Grant Consortium and in part by voluntary donations. The satellite, costing about 50,000 US Dollars to build - with NASA offering a free launch as part of the ELaNa program - served as a testing model for guidance and navigation pending future launches.[3] The eventual goal of the project is to build a CubeSat capable of orbiting the Moon.[4]

Vermont Lunar CubeSat

Mission type	Technology
Operator	Vermont Technical College
COSPAR ID	2013-064AD
SATCAT no.	39407
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Vermont Technical College
Launch mass	1 kilogram (2.2 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	November 20, 2013, 01:15 (2013-11-20UTC01:15Z) UTC[1]
Rocket	Minotaur I
Launch site	MARS LP-0B
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	November 21, 2015 (2015-11-21)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Inclined
Perigee altitude	438 km (272 mi)
Apogee altitude	450 km (280 mi)
Inclination	40.52 degrees
Period	93.47 minutes
Epoch	July 4, 2014, 20:59:35 UTC[2]

It was launched on November 19, 2013 from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of a payload containing two NASA, 11 university, one high school and 14 Air Force CubeSats. Vermont Lunar is the only non NASA/Air Force CubeSat from this ELaNa IV launch that is fully working. Eight were never heard from at all. SPARK/Ada 2005 was used, and this is the first spacecraft of any kind programmed in SPARK.[4] The control software contained about 10,000 lines of SPARK/Ada code. The Principal Investigator was Carl Brandon, the Software Supervisor was Peter Chapin, and Dan Turner served as the Principal Developer. This was the first satellite of any kind built by a college or university in New England^{[citation needed]}.

See also

Lunar CubeSats in development

• Lunar IceCube
• Lunar Flashlight
• Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper

References

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