FALLS CHURCH, Va. - The BAE Systems-built CloudSat satellite has officially ended operations after more than 17 years on orbit. CloudSat launched in April 2006 as part of a NASA-led mission to develop global cloud profiles to better understand how water and ice content determine cloud properties, the processes behind precipitation, and how clouds impact the climate. It has since served as a valuable tool for the scientific community to validate and advance weather forecast modeling and predictive capabilities, and it has helped inform hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers.

BAE Systems designed and built the spacecraft bus for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed the Cloud Profiling Radar that served as CloudSat’s sole instrument. The satellite launched jointly and flew in formation with the Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, which utilizes BAE Systems-built LIDAR and wide-field camera instruments to further study climate impacts of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The CALIPSO mission formally ended on August 1, 2023. CloudSat was originally planned for a 22-month mission lifetime, but it was able to continue providing measurements for nearly 18 years in large part due to operational support efforts from the BAE Systems team, which modified spacecraft operations to deal with battery and reaction wheel failures that occurred over the years. CloudSat officially ended scientific operations in December 2023. In the months following, the satellite went through the passivation process - depleting its remaining energy and adjusting its solar arrays so it can no longer be activated - and was progressively lowered to disposal orbit where it will eventually burn up safely in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Source: BAE Sytems
Associated URL: https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/article/bae-systems-built-cloudsat-satellite-completes-nearly-two-decades-long-mission

MAHIA, New Zealand - Rocket Lab USA, Inc. deployed two satellites to two different orbits approximately 500km apart on its 47th Electron mission.

The ‘Beginning Of The Swarm’ (B.T.S) mission lifted-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 10:32 NZST on April 24th, 2024 with payloads for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and NASA. The primary payload, NEONSAT-1 by KAIST, was first deployed by Electron to a 520km circular Earth orbit before Electron deployed NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System to a higher circular orbit at 1,000km.

NEONSAT-1 will perform Earth-observation of the Korean Peninsula for KAIST, which will then pair the satellite’s data with artificial intelligence to monitor for natural disasters in the region. NEONSAT-1 is the first of 11 satellites for KAIST’s planned constellation to image the Korean Peninsula several times daily.

The second mission deployed today was NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, which is a technology demonstration of new materials that use sunlight to propel a spacecraft. Much like a sailboat is powered by wind pushing against a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion to move around. This mission plans to test how well new composite booms unfurl the sail from the spacecraft - which is about the size of a toaster - to an area about the size of a small apartment. Data from this mission will be used for designing future larger-scale composite solar sail systems for space weather early warning satellites, asteroid and other small body reconnaissance missions, and missions to observe the polar regions of the sun.

The capability to deploy two satellites more than 500km apart on the same launch is enabled by Electron’s Kick Stage, a small stage with engine relight capability to enable last-mile delivery. After deploying NEONSAT-1, Electron’s Kick Stage completed multiple in-space burns of its Curie engine to raise its apogee and circularize its orbit before deploying the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft. The Kick Stage then completed a [fourth] and final engine light to perform a deorbit maneuver that returned the stage closer to Earth to speed up its eventual deorbit, helping to reduce long term orbital debris. The successful mission was Rocket Lab’s fifth launch of 2024, continuing Electron’s streak as the United States’ second-most frequently launched rocket annually.

Source: Rocket Lab
Associated URL: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/rocket-lab-successfully-deploys-satellites-500km-apart-to-separate-orbits-for-kaist-and-nasa/

BROOMFIELD, Colo. -- The BAE Systems-built CloudSat satellite has officially ended operations after more than 17 years on orbit. CloudSat launched in April 2006 as part of a NASA-led mission to develop global cloud profiles to better understand how water and ice content determine cloud properties, the processes behind precipitation, and how clouds impact the climate. It has since served as a valuable tool for the scientific community to validate and advance weather forecast modeling and predictive capabilities, and it has helped inform hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers.

BAE Systems designed and built the spacecraft bus for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed the Cloud Profiling Radar that served as CloudSat's sole instrument. The satellite launched jointly and flew in formation with the Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, which utilizes BAE Systems-built LIDAR and wide-field camera instruments to further study climate impacts of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The CALIPSO mission formally ended on August 1, 2023.

CloudSat was originally planned for a 22-month mission lifetime, but it was able to continue providing measurements for nearly 18 years in large part due to operational support efforts from the BAE Systems team, which modified spacecraft operations to deal with battery and reaction wheel failures that occurred over the years.

Source: www.baesystems.com/US