Preparations for the MicroMAS CubeSat mission

Author

Blackwell, William J. ; Allen, G. ; Galbraith, C. ; Leslie, R. ; Osaretin, I. ; Reid, B. ; Scarito, M. ; Shields, M. ; Thompson, E. ; Toher, D. ; Townzen, D. ; Cahoy, K. ; Miller, David W.

Author_Institution

Lincoln Lab., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Lexington, MA, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

21-26 July 2013

Firstpage

847

Lastpage

848

Abstract

The Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite (MicroMAS) is a 3U CubeSat (10×10×34 cm, ~4 kg) hosting a passive microwave spectrometer operating near the 118.75-GHz oxygen absorption line. MicroMAS is a dual-spinning 3U CubeSat that aims to address the need for low-cost, mission-flexible, and rapidly deployable spaceborne sensors. The focus of the current MicroMAS mission is to observe convective thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, and hurricanes from a near-equatorial orbit.

Keywords

absorption; artificial satellites; atmospheric composition; atmospheric measuring apparatus; convection; microwave spectrometers; oxygen; radiometers; remote sensing; storms; thunderstorms; 3U CubeSat; MicroMAS CubeSat mission preparations; convective thunderstorm observation; current MicroMAS mission; dual-spinning 3U CubeSat; frequency 118.75 GHz; hurricane observation; lowcost sensor; microsized microwave atmospheric satellite; mission-flexible sensor; near-equatorial orbit; oxygen absorption line; passive microwave spectrometer; rapidly deployable spaceborne sensor; tropical cyclone observation; Earth; Laboratories; Microwave radiometry; Payloads; Radio frequency; Sensors; Space vehicles; MicroMAS; cubesat; radiometer;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2013 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Melbourne, VIC

ISSN

2153-6996

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-1114-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2013.6721291

Filename

6721291