Air Force Successfully Launches CubeSat Program Aboard Northrop Grumman Antares Rocket

摘要

The Air Force and the Aerospace Corp. launched an experimental cube satellite project aboard a Northrop Grumman [NOC] Antares rocket Nov. 2, hitching a ride with NASA’s NG-12 Cygnus mission heading for the International Space Station. The Rogue CubeSat program is a dual cubesat program co-developed between the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSMC) and the Aerospace Corp., with the goal of exploring how feasible it would be to develop small and inexpensive satellites to quickly plus-up a proliferated low Earth orbit constellation, the Air Force said Nov. 1. The satellites, once deployed into orbit after the release of the Cygnus capsule from the ISS, will explore “jumpstarting LEO cloud scene processing” and provide test data for short-wave infrared band satellites. NASA confirmed Monday that the Cygnus capsule has successfully attached to the ISS, where it will remain until January 2020.