Tiny Satellite for Studying Distant Planets Goes Quiet

JPL ^ | 01/03/2020 | Calla Cofield

[BenLurkin]

Mission operators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have lost contact with the ASTERIA satellite, a briefcase-sized spacecraft designed to study planets outside our solar system. The last successful communication with ASTERIA, short for Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics, was on Dec. 5; attempts to contact it are expected to continue into March 2020.

ASTERIA belongs to a category of satellites called CubeSats, which vary in size but are typically smaller than a suitcase. Deployed into Earth orbit from the space station on Nov. 20, 2017, the technology demonstration mission showed that many technologies necessary for studying and potentially finding exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than our Sun) can be shrunk to fit on small satellites. Long-term, the mission aimed to show that small satellites could one day be used to assist larger exoplanet missions, such as NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS).

ASTERIA observed a handful of nearby stars and successfully demonstrated that it could achieve precision measurements of the stars' brightness. With that data, scientists look for dips in a star's light that would indicate an orbiting planet passing between the satellite and the star. (This planet-hunting technique is called the transit method.) Mission data is still being analyzed to confirm whether ASTERIA spotted any distant worlds.

Since completing its primary mission objectives in early February 2018, ASTERIA has continued operating through three mission extensions. During that time, it has been used as an in-space platform to test various capabilities to make CubeSats more autonomous, some of which are based on artificial intelligence programs.

ASTERIA also made opportunistic observations of the Earth, a comet, other spacecraft in geo-synchronous orbit and stars that might host transiting exoplanets. Even if contact is not regained with ASTERIA, scientists can still conduct experiments on CubeSat autonomy programs using the mission testbed - a replica of the spacecraft's internal hardware, kept on Earth for testing purposes.

"The ASTERIA project achieved outstanding results during its three -month prime mission and its nearly two-year-long extended mission," said JPL's Lorraine Fesq, current ASTERIA program manager. "Although we are disappointed that we lost contact with the spacecraft, we are thrilled with all that we have accomplished with this impressive CubeSat."

ASTERIA was developed under the Phaeton program at JPL. Phaeton was developed to provide early-career hires, under the guidance of experienced mentors, with the challenges of a flight project. ASTERIA is a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge; MIT's Sara Seager is principal investigator on the project. The project's extended missions were partially funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[Lysandru]

So, why is there such a delay in attempting to regain contact? Is this bird in an exotic orbit?

[allendale]

Yes Virginia. There are planets in space orbiting those pretty stars in the night sky. No Virginia they are too far away to visit. And no Virginia, they cannot visit us either. Stop watching the History Channel. No Virginia. Star Wars is not real. Go to sleep Virginia.

[seawolf101]

[Keyhopper]

Aliens have taken over the satellite.
The have made their first request.
Send more Chuck Berry!
Epstein didn’t kill himself.

[Larry Lucido]

a briefcase-sized spacecraft designed to study planets outside our solar system

Did it have a running tape recorder in it? Maybe some aliens were flying by and dropped a chair on it.

[Crucial]

Klingons used it for target practice. Or it’s been taken over by Huawei.

[SaveFerris]

[So, why is there such a delay in attempting to regain contact? Is this bird in an exotic orbit?]

The tiny satellite joined “the fight for $15/hr” and is refusing to communicate until then.

[SaveFerris]

[Aliens have taken over the satellite.]

Just wait until it confuses Jackson Roykirk with James T. Kirk.

[Larry Lucido]

"The tiny satellite"

"We'll have to send away for some really tiny instruments."

[SunkenCiv]

LOL

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fieldmarshaldj.

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[Paul R.]

Thanks, here too. 3 extensions - not too bad...

[Who is John Galt?]

"...a briefcase-sized spacecraft designed to study planets outside our solar system..."
Did it have a running tape recorder in it? Maybe some aliens were flying by and dropped a chair on it.

I heard they tried to bring it back for 'repairs', and it 'accidentally' crash landed at Baghdad Airport...

;^)

[moovova]

[cyclotic]

My son works in flight operations at NASA. His first mission was with a solar observatory satellite that went active the week he was born for a planned 2-3 year mission.

23 years later it’s still operational. He told me that they design for long life but have to be more realistic for mission length. Extensions are just bonus.

When he interviewed with them for his college job (extremely well compensated college job) he told them he was born for this job.

But, from my limited understanding of cubesats, they are very small and don’t usually have a long lifespan before they are pulled back into the atmosphere.