TOP.11 // LAUNCH
Launch Vehicles, Rideshare Deployers & LEOP
Falcon 9 Transporter rideshares, Electron, Vega, AlbaPod and P-POD/ISIPOD deployers, OTV host spacecraft (D-Orbit ION), object cataloguing delays, and LEOP first-contact operations.
1. SatWiki Encyclopedia Specifications (5)
- SQ-FF-006
CanSat & Suborbital Model Satellites
Suborbital educational spacecraft packaged inside a standard 330 mL beverage can envelope (Ø66 × 115 mm, 300–350 g) or a two-stage container–payload cylinder (Ø125 mm, 600–1,000 g). Proposed by Bob Twiggs in 1998, the CanSat established the pedagogical foundation for both the 1999 CubeSat and 2009 PocketQube standards.
- SQ-OPS-010
CubeSat Orbital Deployers (P-POD, ISIPOD, QuadPack, NRCSD & CSD)
Mechanical architecture, door release mechanisms, ejection spring kinematics, and rail vs. canisterized clamping across P-POD, ISIPOD, Exolaunch EXOpod/QuadPack, NanoRacks NRCSD, and Rocket Lab CSD.
- SQ-OP-001
Launch and deployment
How small satellites reach orbit: from a host satellite, directly from the launch vehicle or from an orbital transfer vehicle. For PocketQubes the launch segment has been a major cause of loss, with 13 of 77 units lost or degraded before operations.
- SQ-OP-005
LEOP & in-orbit commissioning
Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) sequence: ejection inhibit timer, antenna deployment, first beacon acquisition, battery/thermal verification and payload checkout.
- SQ-OP-007
Launch market, brokers & orbital transfer vehicles
How PocketQubes and CubeSats buy rides to orbit: dedicated rideshare missions, turnkey launch brokers, orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) and historical routes.
2. Interactive Lab Calculators & Workbenches (2)
3. Technical Notes (2)
- NL-TN-2026-016
Tracking a 5 cm satellite
A bare 50 mm cube sits deep in the Rayleigh scattering regime for UHF space-surveillance radars, yielding a radar cross-section near −43 dBsm. Once its 437 MHz tape-spring monopole or dipole deploys, resonant wire scattering boosts RCS by 25–30 dB. We examine radar cross-section across UHF, S-band and X-band and explain how Differential Doppler resolves rideshare TLE lotteries.
- NL-TN-2026-015
First natural frequency of the backplate and launch loads
Unlike a CubeSat held along four corner rails, a PocketQube is cantilevered in its deployer by a single 1.6 mm thick sliding backplate. We derive the plate's flexural rigidity and fundamental modal frequency across Al 6061-T6, Al 7075-T73, Ti-6Al-4V and FR-4, and evaluate 3σ dynamic deflection under GSFC-STD-7000B (GEVS) random vibration.
4. Research Monographs (1)
5. Engineering Course Modules (2)
- MODULE 09
AIT, Vibration Qualification & TVAC Testing
Test-as-you-fly philosophy, sine sweep modal searches (>200 Hz), 14.1 G_rms GEVS random vibration, and thermal-vacuum bakeout/cycling.
- MODULE 10
IARU/ITU Spectrum Coordination, Deployers & Operations
AlbaPod and CubeSat deployer integration, ≥30-minute deployables / ≥45-minute RF inhibit timers (CDS Rev. 14.1 §2.4.4–2.4.5), IARU/ITU API filings, NORAD TLE lottery identification, and SatNOGS ground networks.