CatSat Completes One Year on its Mission in Orbit

 

CatSat launched on July 3rd, 9:03 PM PDT along with 7 other CubeSats as part of NASA's ELaNa 43 mission. The launch provider, Firefly Aerospace, named the misson "Noise of Summer" and hosted a livestream which included live views of the launch both from the ground and from the rocket. The rocket launched successfully from Vandenberg Space Force Base and entered orbit. We watched the livestream in a lecture hall in the Optical Sciences building and ran out to the University Mall to see the rocket and its trail illuminated by the sun with our own eyes on ascent. However, during the portion of the livestream where the payloads were to be deployed, CatSat's deployment was not confirmed. The jubilant mood among the team quickly turned to a deep anxiety. Later discussions with the launch provider indicated that the spacecraft was likely trapped inside the dispenser. A few days later, the Space Force published 8 TLEs resulting from the launch as opposed to the expected 9 (8 satellites and 1 second stage), further supporting the idea that our satellite was still attached to the second stage. 

 

Over the next few days, the team continued to track the resulting objects with our ground stations here in Tucson with no success. I distinctly remember the sound of Fourth of July fireworks thudding in the distance as we sat in our ground station control room fruitlessly searching the satellite pack. SatNOGS, a worldwide network of ground stations that we participate in, also continued the search for our satellite to no avail. As the other satellites in the pack began transmitting and were identified, we began to accept that CatSat was lost.

 

Then, on the afternoon of July 15th, a SatNOGS station in the Netherlands tracking the second stage caught a weak signal at our frequency. The signal, a beacon from the spacecraft, showed that the onboard systems were healthy and that our orbit was separated from the second stage. Our orbital calculations showed that we must have ejected from the second stage earlier that morning. There was no warning, no advance notice. One moment we had nothing. The next moment we had everything.

 

The first passes over Tucson after our deployment were on the night of July 15th, but heavy monsoons in the area made contacting the spacecraft impossible. The next opportunity was July 16th in the morning. During that morning pass we successfully made first contact with CatSat, receiving a reply at our ground station on campus. Within the span of a day, we had gone from the lowest low to the highest high. Thus began the mission which has just completed a year of life.

 

We do not know what caused our deployment from the second stage that day. By this point, the rocket's second stage was derelict and had no electrical power. Moreover, our calculations indicate that the ejection velocity was far higher than expected and left us with an impressive rotation rate which the spacecraft almost drained itself trying to arrest. My personal theory is that the derelict stage began to tumble and this rotation flung us out. However, we likely will never know the true cause of the event as we have no data from that moment.

 

More than just valuable work experience, CatSat has given its team members a great story about luck, determination, and a little spacecraft that not only could, but still does.