Team Miles | |||
Mission Type: | Technology demonstration | ||
Mission Duration: | (in orbit) | ||
Spacecraft: | Team Miles | ||
Manufacturer: | Fluid and Reason, LLC. | ||
Dimensions: | 10 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm | ||
Launch Date: | 16 November 2022, 06:47:44 UTC[1] | ||
Launch Rocket: | SLS Block 1 | ||
Launch Contractor: | NASA | ||
Orbit Reference: | Heliocentric orbit | ||
Apsis: | helion | ||
Interplanetary: |
| ||
Trans Band: | S-band | ||
Insignia Size: | 200px | ||
Programme: | NASA CubeQuest Challenge |
Team Miles was a 6U CubeSat that was to demonstrate navigation in deep space using innovative plasma thrusters. It was also to test a software-defined radio operating in the S-band for communications from about 4 million kilometers from Earth. Team Miles was one of ten CubeSats launched with the Artemis 1 mission into a heliocentric orbit in cislunar space on the maiden flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), that took place on 16 November 2022.[1] [2] Team Miles was deployed but contact was not established with the spacecraft.[3]
Parameter | Units/performance | |
---|---|---|
Thrust | 5 mN | |
Specific impulse (Isp) | 760 seconds | |
Impulse | 7456 N seconds | |
Power | 22 watts | |
Wet mass | 1.5 kg | |
Propellant mass | 1 kg | |
Propellant | Solid iodine | |
Thrust:Mass | 3.3 mN/kg | |
Impulse:Power | 338 N seconds/watt | |
Delta-V 12 kg craft | 649 m/s |
The spacecraft, a 6-Unit CubeSat — measuring 10 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm — was designed and is being developed by a non-profit group of fifteen citizen scientists and engineers (Fluid and Reason, LLC) based at Tampa, Florida.[4] [5] [6] Since the Team Miles won the first place at CubeQuest Challenge for the selection process,[7] Fluid and Reason, LLC stroke partnerships and became Miles Space, a commercial endeavor to further develop the technology and intellectual property that has come out of the design process.[4]
Wesley Faler, who leads Fluid and Reason, LLC., is the inventor of the ion thruster to be used, which he calls ConstantQ Model H.[8] [4] It is a form of electric propulsion for spacecraft. The engine is a hybrid plasma and laser thruster that uses ionized iodine as propellant.[9] [6] The Model H system includes 4 thruster heads which are canted, allowing for both primary propulsion and attitude control (orientation) without the use of moving parts.[8] [10] The goal within the CubeQest Challenge is to travel 4 million kilometers, but the team will attempt to go as far as 96 million kilometers before the end of the mission.[4]
The spacecraft will use the USRP B200mini, a software-defined radio operating in the S band for communications from about 4 million kilometers from Earth.[11]