MicroMAS: A First Step Towards a Nanosatellite Constellation for Global Storm Observation

Presenter Information

• William Blackwell, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• G. Allen, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• C. Galbraith, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• R. Leslie, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• I. Osaretin, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• M. Scarito, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Mike Shields, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• E. Thompson, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• D. Toher, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• D. Townzen, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• A. Vogel, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• R. Wezalis, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Kerri Cahoy, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• David Miller, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Anne Marinan, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ryan Kingsbury, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Evan Wise, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Sung Wook Paek, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Eric Peters, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Meghan Prinkey, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Pratik Davé, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Brian Coffee, Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Neal Erickson, University of Massachusetts

Session

Technical Session XI: Around the Corner

Abstract

The Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite (MicroMAS) is a dual-spinning 3U CubeSat equipped with a nine-channel passive microwave spectrometer observing near the 118.75-GHz oxygen absorption line. The focus of this first MicroMAS mission is to observe convective thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, and hurricanes. The payload, housed in the “lower” 1U of the dual-spinning 3U CubeSat, is mechanically rotated approximately once per second as the spacecraft orbits the Earth, resulting in a cross-track scanned beam with a FWHM beamwidth of 2.5 degrees and an approximately 20-km diameter footprint at nadir incidence from a nominal altitude of 400 km. The MicroMAS flight unit is currently being developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the MIT Space Systems Laboratory, the MIT Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Department of Radio Astronomy for a 2013 launch on the Cygnus-2 ISS resupply mission.