The latest CubeSat technology is ready for launch

The latest CubeSat technology is ready for launch

CubeSat GomX-4A technology (left) and GomX-4B (right) at the ESA Mechanical Systems Laboratory. A couple of nanosatellites were sent to a vacuum chamber to simulate the harsh vacuum conditions and extreme temperatures that they would experience in a 540 km orbit.

GomX-4B is CubeSat's newest and largest testing technology in Europe. It will be launched from China in early 2018 along with the identical GomX-4A. The pair will test inter-satellite links in orbit with a distance of 4500 km from each other.

The satellites created in GomSpace (Denmark) and transferred to ESA in December to prepare the technology for launch. Planning to use the Chinese Changzheng rocket. Most of the tests carried out in GomSpace and in Denmark.

CubeSats are standard satellites with parameters of 10 x 10 cm. A couple will be sent to test the interconnection technology, transmitting information from one satellite to another and to an earth station receiving.

Coming out of the rocket, the satellites will configure their antennas. Then GomX-4B will gradually move away from his partner with intervals of 100 km. Their distance will be controlled by a new method of movement of cold gas. Communication is supported by flat antennas, and the maximum allowable distance between them should not exceed 4500 km. Each unit also carries a payload. For example, the GomX-4B is the first CubeSat with a new hyperspectral HyperScout thermal imager.

The latest CubeSat technology is ready for launch

Images from HyperScout allow you to collect unique environmental information in 45 different spectral ranges. The camera processes frames on its own, which significantly reduces the number of images sent to Earth.

Also, GomX-4B has a small startracker, which more accurately determines the location. Testing was successful and it remains to deliver the technology to China. Upon arrival, they will be checked again and filled with fuel tanks.

The latest CubeSat technology is ready for launch

CubeSat GomX-4B technology passes demagnetization - reduction of magnetic fields through the use of an opposite magnetic field. This procedure is needed to optimize the operation of the “magnetokotorov”, which are used for the satellite orientation in space

The pair will take off as an additional load to the Chinese satellite CSES-1, tracking signals of earthquakes in the ionosphere.

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