DUNMORE Aerospace Satkit
The Dunmore Aerospace Satkit contains standard STARcrest™ MLI materials cut into manageable sizes for small satellite developers to make their own thermal protection blankets for low earth orbit protection. The kit is set to contain a roll of outer layer material, a larger roll on inner layer material, and polyimide tapes for assembly and edge binding.
Cubesats
A cubesat is a small satellite in the shape of a cube with each side measuring 10 centimeters. Thus, the volume of this satellite is one liter and is required to have a mass no more than 1.33 kilograms. A cubesat weighing less than 1 kilogram is considered a picosatellite. A single cubesat is referred to as 1U or one unit. Cubesats can be joined together to become 2U, 3U or 6U, measuring 10 cm2 by 20 cm, 10 cm2 by 30 cm, or 10 cm by 20 cm by 30 cm respectively.
Cubesats were first constructed by California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Stanford University in 1999. They developed the cubesat specifications to help other universities develop their own nanosatellites. Since their development, over 100 cubesats have been launched from organizations all over the world; they are most often placed into low earth orbit.
These small nanosatellites are utilized for a range of science and technology demonstrations. The major advantage of testing equipment on a cubesat is that if the technology malfunctions and the satellite becomes inoperable, a small amount of money and time was invested compared to larger-scale spacecraft missions. Some popular areas for demonstration include communications, cryogenics, earth science, heliophysics, propulsion, and space based astronomy, among many others. In the future, cubesats may be utilized for interplanetary missions to the Moon, Mars or Saturn, and, quite possibly, interstellar missions.
Cubesats can be launched as secondary payloads aboard nearly any launch vehicle. They are commonly launched from the ISS by a spring-loaded box-like mechanism.
