LEOP & in-orbit commissioning

Also known as LEOP, First contact, Commissioning

Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) sequence: ejection inhibit timer, antenna deployment, first beacon acquisition, battery/thermal verification and payload checkout.

Document
SQ-OP-005
Updated
Reading time
1 min
In this tab

From separation to first beacon

The Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) begins the instant the deployer door opens and the deployment switches release[1]:

  1. Inhibit countdown ( to ): The EPS powers the , which increments a non-volatile timer in FRAM while keeping RF amplifiers and burn-wire drivers disabled.
  2. Antenna release and ( to ): Primary and redundant thermal knives sever the UHMWPE hold-down cords; on spacecraft with active magnetic control, damping starts reducing tip-off rates from toward [2].
  3. First beacon acquisition: Using the launch provider's separation state vector converted into a preliminary Two-Line Element () set, the primary station and global receivers record the first CW or / housekeeping frames[3].

Step-by-step subsystem verification

Before enabling high-power payload operations, operators verify four baseline telemetry trends over orbits[2]:

  • Energy balance: Confirm positive net state-of-charge recovery after eclipse and verify that the sub-zero charge inhibit and heater operate as designed.
  • Thermal envelope: Check PCB, battery and PA temperatures across sunlit and eclipse phases against single-node predictions.
  • Uplink command authentication: Validate command reception, RSSI/SNR floors and watchdog reset counters before scheduling automated payload passes.

References

  1. [1]NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. (2017). CubeSat 101: Basic Concepts and Processes for First-Time CubeSat Developers. NASA.nasa.gov(accessed 20 October 2026)
  2. [2]nadir lab. (2026). PocketQube-class picosatellites: architecture, flight heritage, and a multi-method post-flight analysis of Grizu-263A [Preprint]. nadir lab. Research Monographs (SQ-R-001).Read on nadir lab.
  3. [3]Libre Space Foundation. (2026). SatNOGS DB — satellite and transmitter database.db.satnogs.org(accessed 20 October 2026)

Cite this SatWiki entry

@misc{nadirlab2026leop,
  author       = {{nadir lab.}},
  title        = {{LEOP \& in-orbit commissioning}},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {nadir lab. SatWiki SQ-OP-005 (Rev. 1)},
  url          = {https://nadirlab.space/wiki/leop-commissioning/}
}