Radio Aurora Explorer
Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) is the first National Science Foundation sponsored CubeSat mission. The RAX mission is a joint effort between SRI International in Menlo Park, California and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The chief scientist at SRI International, Dr. Hasan Bahcivan, led his team at SRI to develop the payload while the chief engineer, Dr. James Cutler, led a team of students to develop the satellite bus in the Michigan Exploration Laboratory. There are currently two satellites in the RAX mission.
RAX under construction | |
| Mission type | Auroral research |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / NSF |
| COSPAR ID | 2010-062B |
| SATCAT no. | 37223 |
| Website | rax |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | 3U CubeSat |
| Launch mass | 28.0 kilograms (61.7 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 20 November 2010, 01:25:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Minotaur IV/HAPS |
| Launch site | Kodiak Pad 1 |
| Contractor | Orbital Sciences |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | May 2011 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Eccentricity | 0.0021634 |
| Perigee altitude | 622 kilometres (386 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 653 kilometres (406 mi) |
| Inclination | 71.97 degrees |
| Period | 97.52 minutes |
| RAAN | 73.62 degrees |
| Argument of perigee | 311.60 degrees |
| Epoch | 2 December 2010 |
The RAX-1 mission, launched in November 2010, was a demonstration of the team's technological capabilities – it made great strides in CubeSat design, and was able to execute bistatic radar measurements that had never before been performed on a satellite of its size.
RAX-2 builds on this heritage by completing the scientific portion of the overall mission; it is a reflection of students learning from practical experience, and swiftly implementing new, more inventive technologies firsthand. RAX team members were able to get practical spacecraft troubleshooting experience, and applied lessons learned from RAX-1 to RAX-2, which performs the same mission concept with improved bus performance and additional operational modes. RAX-2 launched on October 28, 2011 as part of the NASA ELaNa-3 mission.