AeroCube-11 (TOMSat, R3) Satellites

Multispectral pushbroom imager and laser transmitter for downlink.

Demonstrate the utility of CubeSats to perform remote-sensing missions at a level comparable to that of large spacecraft. The satellite will produce data useful for agricultural and mineral surveys, as well as coastal water quality monitoring. Multispectral, pushbroom imager that flies the Landsat-8 visible bands. 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).

Results show good multispectral image quality from the CubeSat sensor, and illustrate the ability of R3 to detect vegetation and other features in a manner similar to Landsat, as well as the challenge in perfectly exposing all 6 VIS/NIR Landsat bands using our commercial 10-bit CMOS array.

We planned and accomplished a Landsat-8 near conjunction collection on 22 January, 2020 over France. These R3 data have not yet been transmitted via lasercom, due to star sensor degradation issues which have made closing the laser link difficult. These data may eventually be downlinked via the experimental software defined radio which was successfully brought online during the mission.

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