The Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer mission is the fourth deep space mission in NASA's New Millennium Program. Known as Space Technology 5 or ST5 for short, the mission will attempt to fly three miniature spacecraft high above the Earth.

Each of the spacecraft is about the size of a birthday cake -- 42 centimeters (17 inches) across and 20 centimeters (8 inches) high, and weighs about 21.5 kilograms (47 pounds).

The spacecraft will be used to test methods for operating a constellation of spacecraft as a single system. The mission will also test eight innovative new technologies in the harsh space environment near the boundary of Earth's protective magnetic field known as the magnetosphere.

The mission is planned for launch in 2003 as a secondary payload on an expendable launch vehicle. The mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and is budgeted at $28 million.

AeroAstro Helping Trailblaze X-Band Communications
 Herndon - August 24, 2000 - AeroAstro, has won a contract of $1.6 million to build miniaturized X-band transponders for NASA’s Space Technology 5 (ST5) Nanosatellite Constellation Trailblazer mission.

A part of the New Millennium Program, ST5 will fly three identical nanosatellites in formation in elliptical Earth orbit as a pathfinder for nanosatellite missions involving dozens or hundreds of spacecraft. The miniaturized transponders are one of a number of advanced technologies to be demonstrated on the mission.

Each new transponder, the size of an inkjet printer cartridge (2" x 2" x 3"), will be twelve times lighter and nine times smaller than previous communications systems, and require only one-fourth the voltage and half as much power.

They will communicate directly with ground stations on Earth, and weighing less than 300 grams, their size and 750 kilobit-per-second capability is a key enabler of future miniature satellite missions. AeroAstro designed this revolutionary space communication system by leveraging commercial technology from cell phones, Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) and Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) television.

Dr. Rick Fleeter, President and CEO of AeroAstro, said, “Leveraging commercial technology with a very high level of integration affords reliability and capability that was previously achieved through customized, large, redundant systems.

"We are offering our X-band transponders as a commercial product with several customization options, as yet another step on the road towards the next generation of miniature satellite applications."

AeroAstro was named to the ST5 team one year ago after a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract laid the foundation for its miniature X-band transponder work. The three spacecraft of ST5 are due for launch in 2003.

Doug McLennan, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's ST5 Project Manager, said, "The ST5 mission is a pathfinder for future nano-sat constellation missions and the miniature transponder being developed by Aero Astro is a critical piece of that future."

AeroAstro, a pioneer of micro- and nano-spacecraft applications in science, remote sensing and communications, led the trend towards high technology in miniature satellites--now the industry standard--with its highly successful ALEXIS satellite begun in 1988 and currently in its seventh year operating on-orbit.

AeroAstro has created numerous design programs and manufactures low-cost communications systems for ground and inter-satellite applications. NASA, the Air Force, commercial and university customers have all employed AeroAstro throughout its 12-year history.

  • AeroAstro Info Page
  • Space Technology 5
  • Trailblazer Overview and Links

    MICROSAT BLITZ
     China Microsat Performs Well; Nanosat Is Next
     Beijing - August 22, 2000 - China's first microsatellite Tsinghua-1 is performing without problems, says Tsinghua University here. On June 28 a Russian Kosmos-3M rocket launched the microsat from the Plesestk Cosmodrome in northern Russia to a polar sunsynchronous orbit of 700 km.

    SPACE.WIRE