OrcaSat program
OS-2 · committed
OrcaSat-2
S-band high-bandwidth comms
Concept v0.1
Operate a 3U CubeSat in LEO and downlink at least 100 MB of payload data via an S-band link at ≥1 Mbps, while keeping the heritage UHF beacon as an independent fallback.
- Form
- 100 × 100 × 340.5 mm
- Mass
- ≤ 4 kg
- Platform
- KEEL-2
- Downlink
- S-band ≥1 Mbps
- Beacon
- Heritage UHF 437 MHz
- ADCS
- Reaction wheels + torquers
- Orbit
- ~500 km SSO
- Lifetime
- 12 mo min · 24+ goal
Validates
- S-band downlink ≥1 Mbps — retires OrcaSat-1’s UHF bottleneck
- 3-axis active ADCS for antenna pointing within ≤5° of the ground station
- Deployable solar wings supporting S-band TX duty cycle
- A binary success criterion: 100 MB downlinked at ≥1 Mbps
- Form
- 3U CubeSat · CDS Rev. 14
- Mass
- ~3–4 kg
- Budget
- $30k–$92k
- Timeline
- Months 30–60