MAST Satellite

MAST
MAST
MAST
MAST
Spacecraft MAST (Multi-Application Survivable Tether)
Form factor CubeSat
Units or mass 3U
Status Was semi-operational until? Communication was achieved with one of three picosats.
Launched 2007-04-17
NORAD ID 31126
Deployer P-POD (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer)
Launcher Dnepr
Organization Tethers Unlimited
Institution Company
Entity Commercial
Country US
Launch brokerer Cal Poly
Partners Stanford University
Oneliner

3 tethered CubeSats with 1 km tether and middle one will crawl.

Description

Perform investigations of the dynamics of tethered formations of spacecraft and to investigate the survivability of tethers in the harsh space environment.

3 tethered cubesats with 1 km tether. The middle picosatellite, called "Gadget", will then slowly crawl up and down the tether, taking pictures of the tether as it goes.

Determine how quickly the tether experiences damage due to impacts by micrometeoroids and orbital debris, as well as due to erosion by atomic oxygen and UV light. In addition, all three picosatellites contain GPS receivers.

Sources [1] [2] [3]
Photo sources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Keywords Tether
On the same launch

Last modified: 2024-05-29

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Created by Erik Kulu

Email: erik.kulu@nanosats.eu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikkulu

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